Soil & Trouble
by Weavillain
Summary: Lana Loud desperately wants to go outside and play in the mud but isn't allowed to do so until the rain stops. Unfortunately for her, patience isn't a virtue that she holds near and dear and because of her disobedience, she pays a hefty price. [DISCONTINUED/UP FOR ADOPTION]
1. Chapter 1

Royal Woods was presently being battered and beaten down by rain. It wasn't something that anyone would prefer, especially on a Saturday morning. For all of the Loud family, that meant finding things to do to pass the time while waiting for the downpour to cease. Lori was lamenting about her ruined plans for her and Bobby to ride their bikes around the lake at the park, Lincoln was talking with Clyde over his walkie talkie, Leni was channel surfing, Luna was trying to catch up on sleep from her last gig that lasted until almost 1 in the morning, Lynn was being forced to listen to her parents lecture her about the importance of NOT playing soccer in the house, Luan was trying (and failing) to make Lucy laugh with her latest batch of puns, and Lola was practicing her curtsy in front of the mirror in her room.

That left Lisa, who was standing by her barometeric machinery and keeping constant updates on it, Lily, who was content with waving her arms around and cooing from the safety of her crib, and Lana, who was pestering Lisa about constantly giving her updates on her barometric readings to begin with. Out of everyone in the entire house, she was the most antsy about the rain. Lana may not have been a wizard at math, but based on past experiences, she knew that "Rain + Dirt = Mud = Hours upon hours of sliding in the mud" and that was one equation she desperately wanted to live out as soon as possible. Unfortunately for Lisa, that meant that Lana was constantly in her ear, whining about telling her when the rain would stop so she could go outside and play in the mud puddles in the front yard.

"How 'bout now?"

"No."

"How 'bout now?"

"No."

"How 'bout now?"

"No."

Before Lana could ask the same question again, Lisa's fuse had run out and she decided that humoring her sister had run its course.

"No means no, Lana. Now quit beleaguering me with your impatience. I'd like to resume my studies if that's okay with you."

Lana dramatically dropped to her knees and grabbed Lisa by the collar of her sweater, bringing her close until their noses were touching.

"Come oooooooooon, Lisa! Help a sister out, would ya?!"

" _*sigh*_ Lana, for the sixteenth time this hour, according to the latest barometric readings of my meteorology equipment, this rainstorm will cease to drub over the Royal Woods area in a matter of approximately…"

Lisa analyzed her barometric readings…again and gave Lana the information that she was curious about but knew she wouldn't be happy with.

"…7 minutes and…14 seconds. No matter how many times you pester and badger me with the same query, the rain will not stop before then. I trust you can wait that long, yes?"

Predictably, Lana squealed in anguish again.

"NOOOOOOO! Make the rain stop noooooooow! There's a big mud slide right outside the house and I wanna get down and dirty as fast as I can! You know how Mom and Dad say that I can't play in the mud unless it's not raining anymore! Can't you just zap the clouds away with some laser or something?"

Lisa firmly released herself from Lana's grasp and gestured over to all of the machinery that was making her weather analysis possible.

"With my present state of barometric technology, I can only pinpoint the severity and type of atmospheric pressure that brings about certain weather-related incongruities. To force these rain clouds to dissipate with "some laser", as you put it, would take…hmmmmmm…about a month."

Had she not been so wound up with irritation, Lisa would've found Lana's crestfallen yet comedic and over-the-top reaction amusing.

"A WHOLE MONTH?!"

"Yes. A whole month and that's IF I can get my hands on enough holmium and terbium, which is a time-consuming endeavor in of itself. So, as you can see, your best bet is to wait it out the next…5 minute and 58 seconds."

"Darn it!"

Lana stormed out with a huff, leaving Lisa alone with Lily. Lisa clicked her tongue in rebuke for Lana's understandingly myopic perspective of time and of patience.

"Honestly, that girl needs a new hobby. I could see geology being right up her alley."

Lisa instantly brightened up when she looked over at her adorable baby sister, who was amusing herself with her purple blanket. Lisa leaned over the crib to playfully interact with an infant that she knew couldn't really talk back to her.

"What do you think, Lily?"

Lily stopped her playing to look up at Lisa and blow a raspberry at her, spraying saliva all over Lisa's glasses and going into a giggling fit.

"Hmph. Well, who asked you, anyways?"

 **A/N:** I gotta say, I love writing for Lisa Loud. Her personality is just way too amusing. Anyways, this is going to be a multi-chapter story. I predict it'll last for three chapters but I might consider more if I can think of anything else to put into this. Don't forget to leave a review about how you're digging the direction of this story so far or if you have any general complaints about the writing here.


	2. Chapter 2

"Could you stop all that groaning already? I'm trying to get this curtsy down pat and all your whining isn't helping me concentrate."

After being told the bad news by Lisa, Lana was presently looking out the window in her room, moaning and groaning about being stuck inside. She just wanted to enjoy what Mother Nature had to offer and ironically, it was Mother Nature that kept her inside to begin with. Lana indignantly scowled at her sister's lack of sympathy for her plight. Of course, there was no way to explain how despondent she was of her current predicament. No way that little "Ms. Pink, Prim, and Perfect" would understand how she was feeling.

"Ugh, who cares about your stupid curtsy? Look at all that mud, Lola!"

She returned to pressing her face against the window and looked on at the giant lakes of mud that decorated their backyard. Such a sight could bring a tear to a glass eye!

"Miles and miles of beautiful mud!"

"Yuck! I'd rather not. The only time I like to think about mud is if I'm at a spa and Mom and Dad have ordered a mud bath for me. Otherwise, it's gross, icky, and makes your skin itch after it dries."

"But that's the best paaaaaart! Oh, actually, the best part is when you're out there and you're barefoot so you can make big splashes when you jump in it mud, especially when you let the worms wiggle between your toes!"

That was it. There was no way Lola could go on any further with the disgusting imagery her twin sister insisted on pounding into her head. She finally turned around to confront Lana, determined to put an end to her moping once and for all.

"Ew, ew, eeeew! Are you trying to make me barf?! Seriously, Lana, Lisa said that all you had to do was wait for another six minutes or so. Can't you wait for that long?"

Lana separated from the window again to look at Lola.

"But it's been way more than six minutes! I know it! And the rain seems to be getting even worse now! Look!"

Despite her sister's whining, Lola did have to admit that the rain did seem to be pouring down even worse than before and if she was being honest, she lost track of time a while ago so maybe it had been more than six minutes. She supposed she did have a legitimate gripe in all of this but there was no way she was about to admit that. Rather, she figured that Lisa could figure out what was going on and get Lana out of her hair.

"Well then, why don't you ask Lisa what the deal is?"

"Yeah, well, the thing is, I tried and when I got to her room, she had the door locked and wouldn't answer me when I called out to her. I guess she's really trying to keep up with her studies."

' _Yeah, and keep her sanity.'_

"Look, Lana, I know how much you looooooove mud and all but I love crushing the hopes and dreams of other contestants at beauty pageants more than that so if you don't mind, could I get a little bit of peace and quiet?"

Lana sighed. She didn't want to disturb her sister just because she wasn't getting her way but it still wasn't fair! The mud was practically beckoning to her to jump right in and have hours of fun in it but because of Mom and Dad's silly rule, she couldn't go outside and…

' _Wait a minute…Mom and Dad! I think they're still in their room and I'm pretty sure the only person downstairs right now is Leni. That means…'_

With her back currently turned to Lola, the most devious of grins spread across her face, rivaling that of her twin. She knew exactly how to get her mud fix and there was no way she was going to let Lola in on her scheme. She'd rat her out just get brownie points. Pretending to still be moody, Lana shuffled slowly out of their room, shoulder slumped and head bowed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll just go watch TV or something. Good luck with your curtsy."

* * *

As she predicted, Mom and Dad were indeed still in their room. By the sounds of it, Lynn was in there, too, as she argued with her parents about the integrity of keeping up with her soccer practice, regardless of whether it was inside or outside. With the two biggest obstacles of her plan stationary, all that was left to do was sneak quietly downstairs, all while hoping that Leni would be too entranced with whatever she was doing to notice as she went outside to play in the mud for just a few minutes. What was a few minutes in the rain going to do anyways?

She tiptoed down the stairs, shushing the inanimate floorboards as they creaked and shrieked beneath her light steps, almost as if they wanted to alert the entire house to her getaway. When she was halfway down the stairs and was able to see the living room in full view, she saw a sight that made her heart sink and her skin turn clammy and ice cold. There was Leni, sitting on the couch, watching her favorite movie, _Lawfully Flaxen_. Why?! She'd seen that movie at least fifty times by now! Lana had been hoping that she would be in the kitchen, making a weird smoothie or something. There was no way she'd not notice Lana walking outside!

 _'It can't be that bad, Lana. It's Leni we're talking about here. She's probably way too caught up in her dumb chick flick to even notice anything around her. I just have to be as quiet as a mouse.'_

More tiptoeing and floorboard creaking ensued until at last, Lana had made it to the bottom. She looked over at Leni again, who still seemed engrossed enough with the movie to not realize that she was there. Sighing in relief, Lana casually strolled over to the front door, her hand firmly grasped on the doorknob and ready to turn it…

"Lana?"

"…."

"Lana, what're you doing?"

"…."

"Why do you have your hand on the doorknob? And why are you looking at the floor like that? And why aren't you saying anything? Oh my gosh! Did Lisa make you drink something that made you lose your voice?! O-or are you pretending to be a mime?! But then, where's your face paint and costume? Plus, why do you look so sweaty and nervous?! Wait, you don't have a crush on someone, do you?! _*gasp*_ OH! EM! GEE! That is the cutest thing ever! I have to go tell Lori!"

Before Leni could jump out of her seat and run upstairs to tell Lori about Lana's apparent crush, Lana quickly darted over to her and grabbed her by the leg, looking up at her with pleading, puppy dog eyes. Leni was one thing but if Lori caught wind of what she was doing, she'd wind up chained to her bedpost to prevent her from escaping.

"Wait! Don't tell Lori! Please!"

"Awww, it's okay, Lana! I'll go make you the cutest outfit that no boy would be able to resist! So lemme guess…"

Leni leaned down to whisper to Lana.

"…it's Clyde, isn't it?"

Lana felt her cheeks redden at the thought of her pining over Clyde. She was quick to deny any romantic affiliations with him.

"What?! No! Gross! Leni, I don't have a crush on anyone! It's just that I…uh…well, you see…"

Lana fumbled about nervously as she looked up at Leni's expectant look on her face. This was going to be tougher than she thought. Sure, Leni wasn't the brightest bulb there was but that could only make things worse. Getting her to believe a lie was easy but she needed to make sure that Leni didn't react in a way that didn't ensure that she could make a quiet escape.

"…I wanna go outside for just the tiiiiiniest amount of time. Just a teensy-eensy bit so that I can..."

At the sounds of her plans, Leni was quick to criticize.

"Lana, that's totes against the rules! You know Mom and Dad say you're not allowed to go out there until it stops raining."

' _Dang it! I should've known not to open like that! Now what do I do?!'_

"Um, w-well, you see, Leni, the thing is…"

' _Think, Lana, think!'_

"I, uh, I…ummmm…have to go outside so that I can stop the…the, uh, spider army from…invading our house."

Leni's hard and angry stare finally broke and she became a stuttering, scared, neurotic mess at the mention of the "s-word".

"S-s-s-spiders?!"

Lana was ecstatic! This was her chance! "Uh huh! Spiders hate the rain so they like to sneak inside people's houses until the rain stops and since I knooooow how much you hate spiders, I'm gonna set a bunch of traps outside so that they can't get in here and scare you. But just in case I fail, you should go upstairs to your room because if there's one thing that spiders like more than staying dry, it's staying dry and watching chick flicks."

Leni didn't need to hear anymore. Just the thought of spiders sitting on the family couch to watch movies with her was enough to make her jump out of her skin.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, eeeeeeeeeeeew!" she screamed as she bolted upstairs to her room and closed the door behind her.

' _Perfect! Look out mud, here comes Lana Loud!'_

Just to make doubly sure that she wasn't going to get discovered, she went into the kitchen and unlocked the door that led to the backyard. That way, she could sneak out around back and find her way back into the house just in case someone just so happened to be looking for her and thought to look out in the front yard first. With that out of the way, she opened up the front door and gasped.

It was almost as if Christmas came early for her. There was a wide stream of mud that seemed to go on for miles, the same one that she had seen earlier and explained about to Lisa. It wouldn't be as much fun without the rain stopping and letting the mud harden up a bit but it'd still be fun nonetheless. It almost looked like a slip n' slide but with mud! She knew she had to try that out first.

Running out, she guffawed and chortled merrily as the cascading rain poured down on her face. She tossed her shoes aside, wanting to feel as much mud between her toes as possible. She paid no mind to her damp, cold clothes. She came out for mud and she was gonna get it if it killed her! The river of mud seemed to start at the far end of the front yard so she made her way to the sidewalk, just a few feet away from where it started. She then made a run for it, laughing and chortling at the top of her lungs as she ran towards the mud river and belly flopped into it, thinking that she'd slide all the way down with ease.

She did…much too easily.

She misjudged the steepness of the mud river. It had flowed so easily because of the short but steep hill that was in their front yard and by the time Lana realized her mistake, it was too late. She looked on in horror as she picked up in speed, whooshing down the hill with ease. She tried to turn her body away and roll into comparatively harder ground to make her stop but it was no good; the rain had made that impossible. What she saw next made her heart sink. The mud river ended in a pool...right in front of the giant tree that was in their front yard. Knowing what was about to happen, Lana shut her eyes, frozen in absolute fear, as her tiny body collided face first into the hard wood of the tree.

Her head was racked with pain and dizziness and her body was almost completely limp. She was lucky enough that the pool was shallow enough so that water didn't rush into her nose but she was otherwise near the point of blacking out. She felt something warm trickling down her head and sure enough, her weak, straining vision was able to figure out what it was as the brown, soupy mud darkened with crimson. One of her eyes stung as the trail of blood seeped into one of her open eyes and she let out a weak moan of pain.

"M-mom...Dad...h-heeeeel…p…"

Her faint, fading cry for help was further drowned out by the thundering, booming sky and pattering rain and it didn't take long for her brain to finally give into to the torture of what felt like thousands of needles pricking and poking into it, making Lana black out in the cold and rain.

 **A/N:** I know that "A Bun In The Oven" wasn't exactly Fluff Central or anything but I've been wanting to mix into the dark, gorier elements of storytelling for a while now so I hoped that those of you, who like that sort of thing, are pleasantly pleased by what I've done here. Also, I know I mentioned three chapters beforehand but with the pacing this has taken so far, I think that four might be the magic number here. Anyways, don't forget to leave dem reviews behind and tell me what you think! (^_^)


	3. Chapter 3

_6 minutes later..._

Lola's knees were starting to hurt at this point. She didn't know how long she had been keeping her curtsy up since Lana left their room earlier but combined with her interest in seeing how her twin sister was coping with her mud withdrawal, she supposed it was time for her to take a break and check up on her. Besides…

' _Something isn't right. I just know it.'_

She had heard her family playfully mention how she and Lana had some kind of psychic connection with each other, having a bond of empathy and mutual understanding that was supposedly common among twins and even if she didn't believe it entirely, she supposed that the more she thought about it, the more she had to admit that there was at least some semblance of reality that was there, especially with this feeling of foreboding that was stirring within her.

Lana's demeanor; it had gnawed at her ever since Lana had made her exit. Something just didn't feel right. That wasn't how she felt Lana would react to the situation of staying inside all day. She didn't even make an attempt to play with the family pets, any of the frogs that she collected in their backyard, or even keep herself preoccupied with working on her plumbing, things that she knew she'd like to keep herself busy or entertained. Lounging around on the couch and watching TV out of boredom was definitely something very "un-Lana" for her to do.

And if THAT wasn't enough to pique her interest, her curtsy practice had been momentarily interrupted by Leni running upstairs and screaming at the top of her lungs about something she didn't care to know about. Like usual, her family assumed that whatever Leni was afraid or worried about wasn't some urgent emergency that needed their attention right away. Besides, Lori had gotten the brunt of her hysteria, since she ran into her room and immediately started freaking out to Lori, and quickly informed everyone about Leni mumbling something about "a spider army or whatever" so everyone went back to their activities without missing a beat, thinking that Leni was just imagining things. But seeing as how Leni had been doing fine by herself and didn't come running until after Lana had went downstairs was enough to finally drive Lola to action.

"I swear, Lana, you better be down there when I get there." she muttered under her breath as she gingerly walked down the steps, her knees protesting with each descending movement. Once she made it all the way down, she looked over at the couch and felt her heart sink as she found Lana to be absent to where she said she'd be.

' _But then where is sh-'_

Her train of thought was violently derailed as a flash of lightning made her jump. She growled with irritation as she realized that that wouldn't have happened had the blinds to the living room window not have been open. Moving to the correct the issue at hand, she had one hand on the blinds and froze as soon as her vision just so happened to catch something right in their front yard…something that looked oddly like the person she had been looking for all this time!

' _Is that…it is! It's Lana! And why is she outside in this weather? Doesn't she know that she'll get in trouble if Mom and Dad find her? Maaaaaaan, I can't wait to tell them about…wait…why isn't she moving?'_

She focused her eyes on Lana a bit more to see why she wasn't moving at all in the giant mud puddle she was lying in…a mud puddle that was also darker than any mud puddle she'd ever seen.

' _Wait a minute, what's that all over Lana's face? Is that...?'_

The pieces fell into place and it didn't take long for Lola to respond to the horror the befell her sister, screaming at the top of her lungs for help. Unlike with Leni, the response from the entire house was immediate. Being the most athletic of the entire house, Lynn was the first to get there. The rest of her family soon followed except for Luna, who was still sleeping despite all the racket coming from outside her closed room and Lily, who was still in her crib. They were all quick to bog Lola down with questions of concern, creating a chaotic atmosphere that Lola had no patience to diffuse at a snail's pace. Rather, she simply yelled over everyone to get their attention.

"ENOUGH! JUST LOOK FOR YOURSELVES!"

Lola pointed out the window, just in time for another streak of lightning to illuminate the horrible sight before their eyes and alert everyone to Lana's predicament. Most of them shouted Lana's name in unison but Lynn Sr. was the first to truly act, running outside as fast as he could until he had Lana secure in his arms. Rita shooed her kids away from the doorway as Lynn Sr. came running back inside. Despite doing her best to keep her children calm and collected, Rita was visibly shaken up herself and did everything she could not to cry out in anguish at the sight of her bruised, bloody daughter. Lynn Sr. gently placed Lana on the couch and called Rita over to him. By the sounds of his voice, he was doing everything he could to keep it together himself.

"Rita, call for an ambulance. Lori, tell everyone else to go to their rooms and meet me back here. I'll go get some towels to help dry her off."

Lori quickly got her protesting siblings in line as she marched them up the stairs and to their rooms. Once that was settled, she was in a hurry to get into to the kitchen, grabbing at a handful of paper towels and running water over them before running to Lana's side. She gingerly wiped the blood off of Lana's face, taking care not to jostle her body around or agitate the gaping gash running across Lana's forehead. Although she tried to keep to together, she found that she didn't care to fight back tears and let them fall from her eyes as she wailed in despair. She'd seen her siblings get into rough shape before, mostly as a result of horseplay, and the worse she'd seen was a broken limb or a few scrapes, nothing that couldn't get healed with a little R&R.

But this? Accidents of this magnitude were something that she'd seen countless times on the news and she was thankful that something like those stories never happened in her family…until now and seeing it happen to someone as young was Lana was enough to break her heart. A pair of arms wrapped around her from behind and she was comforted by the familiar sensation of her mother's loving embrace. She must've gotten off the phone after calling for help. She could tell, even without looking at her, that she was trying to keep her composure for her sake.

"Everything's going be okay, Lori. Your sister _will_ pull through. I promise."

She turned around, making sure not to break away from her mother's hug and reciprocated the gesture with as much effort as she could muster in her present state of mind.

"Thanks, Mom."

* * *

About five minutes later, help finally arrived. Thankfully, the streets were clear because of all the rain, meaning that there wasn't as much traffic about from people choosing to stay indoors. While Lana was carefully loaded onto a gurney, Lynn Sr. and Rita were right at the door, giving Lori some instructions that they entrusted for her to be able to follow. Her father was the first to speak.

"Lori, we'll both be going to the hospital in the ambulance. That way, the van will be free in case we need you to come with us later. Meanwhile, we need you to stay here and debrief your brother and sisters on what's going on. Most importantly, we need you to keep them reassured and calm."

Rita walked over to Lori and gave her one last hug before she intended to leave her.

"We know that's a lot to ask of you. If you'd like, one of us can stay here and…"

"No." Lori shook her head, insisting them both that they needn't worry about her. "I'm needed here. Take care of yourselves and be careful out there."

Both Rita and Lynn Sr. couldn't have been prouder. They knew they were right to leave her in charge and were relieved to know that the rest of their children were in capable hands. But before they left, Rita handed her a tiny sheet of paper.

"Thank you, Lori. We'll see you soon. That's a list of numbers from the next door neighbors in case there's something here that you can't handle but we doubt you'll need it anyways."

With that, Lori saw her parents off as they followed the gurney into the ambulance and watched them disappear from sight by exiting into the back of it. She clutched onto the paper in her hand with a firmer grasp than before and promised herself that she'd help her siblings get through this and to let no further misfortune befall her family.

' _Not on my watch.'_

 **A/N:** And there goes my streak of writing something for every day since I started publishing stories. Darn. Oh well, can't win 'em all, I guess. In case you don't know the drill by know, I'm currently jonesing on reviews, specifically the critical analysis kind so help a fella out, would you? Pwetty pwease?


	4. Chapter 4

Despite her determination to keep her siblings from feeling overly remorseful in the face of Lana's catastrophe, Lori found it harder and harder to keep a firm resolve and what shamed her was that it had only taken a few minutes for her to start to crack under the pressure. After she saw her parents off, she went upstairs and announced loudly for everyone to come downstairs and meet her in the living room, keeping up a visage of credence and conviction but trembling on the inside.

As she waited patiently for her siblings, she couldn't decide how she was going to go about telling them all the news. They had seen enough to know that Lana was badly hurt so telling them that she was fine was glib and disingenuous, especially when she herself had no real idea on how Lana was doing. Leaving them in the dark would only make them worry more, which is why Lori decided that calling them all here and now was the best thing to do. Would the honest-to-God truth truly be best; that she had no idea if Lana would ever be the same again and the best thing to do was…hope?

Had she not been so anxious, she'd have sneered at such a thought. There was no way she could do that to them. No way. She knew that Lana was alive, something that the EMT's made obvious with the oxygen mask that they had hooked up to Lana, yet she still had no idea what would become of her after she recovered and that was IF recovery, as in going back to the way she was before, was even a possibility. Even if she was whole physically, it wouldn't feel the same if this traumatic incident made Lana less like Lana.

But all the same, they deserved to know the truth, the truth about the situation concerning a member of their family. Maybe the truth, the truth of being uncertain yet needing to be hopeful despite everything, was really the right approach after all. The time to decide was up as Lori's stomach churned at the sound of eight footsteps slowly walking down the stairs. She looked up and had to fight back tears as she saw the looks on the faces; forlorn, fearful, and panic were etched prominently on their facial features. She noticed that the now awake Luna had a similar expression.

' _Someone must've told her what happened. Ugh, great. How am I gonna go about this without literally making everyone drown in their sorrows?'_

There was nothing that Lori could do now. The time to step up was upon her as the miserable eight finally all made it downstairs and into the living room. Lori motioned for them to all take a seat on the couch as she stood before them, arms folded behind her back and nerves on absolute scorching fire. It reminded her of all the times she had to present an oral report in front of her classroom yet the anxiety here was much more crippling as Lori knew that the stakes couldn't be any higher.

' _Welp, here goes nothing.'_

"Alright, look, it's not easy for me to say this to all of you but…"

Already, Lori found herself to be at a loss for words but if anything gave her slight comfort, it was the fact that none of the pair of eyes watching her had a trace of apathy in them. It relieved her to know that consoling them would be difficult. All the same, that fact was something that Lori refused to be used as an excuse for her. They needed a pillar of support now more than ever. Lori spoke up again but without trying too hard to lace her words with pleasantries that she knew that no one would take seriously.

"…Lana's hurt. Like, really bad. One thing's for certain though, she's alive and that's what matters the most. I know that no one asked for this to happen to us…to happen to her. It sucks that someone we care about so much got banged up the way she did. It's not fair that Lana's going through something so terrible and I'm not going to lie to you all, Lana may never be the same again. But if there's anything that us Louds know how to do better than anyone, it's accept the cards we've been dealt and make the best of it. So, no matter what news Mom and Dad give us, no matter what happens to Lana, we need to get through this as a family. I'm not asking you not to be sad and I'm not asking you not to grieve. All I want…"

Lori walked over to the couch and made some room between everyone.

"…all I want is for none of you to lose hope. Please. Lana deserves our best. Mom and Dad promised that when they hear any updates from the doctor, they'll call me and let me know what's happening. In the meantime, go back to whatever it was you were doing. And remember…"

She initiated a group hug that everyone found themselves securely wrapped into eventually.

"…don't lose hope."

* * *

Lori found the atmosphere of the house a lot less awkward and dreary about four hours later. Just as the rain had finally ended, so did most of the looming storm clouds hanging over everyone's heads. She couldn't put it all on her little speech, though. Besides her parents, she knew how easy it was for the Louds to get back into their daily routine. It wasn't perfect but it was nonetheless a step in the right direction. Most of them had gone to their respective rooms except for Leni, who went right back to watching "Lawfully Flaxen" after Lori insisted that there was no spider army coming after them. But Lori knew that her work wasn't done yet. There was still one last thing she needed to take care of.

Arriving at Lana and Lola's room, she found herself thankful that the door was slightly ajar, meaning that entering would be easy enough. What wouldn't be easy would be confronting what was on the other side. With as much care as possible, Lori tried her best to push the door open as quietly as she could, cringing at all the creaks it made. This did NOT go unnoticed by the current occupant of the room, who was huddled up on the bed and had her back to the door.

"Go away."

"Lola, I…"

"Just leave me alone, Lori. I don't wanna talk."

"Well, I do. Just stay there for a minute, okay? I promise it won't take long."

Lori rarely found herself bargaining with her siblings but this was an exception. When Lori found that she didn't respond back with another plea to leave her be, she took that as a key to step inside her room. As she closed the distance on her, she realized that her pillow was smeared with makeup and wet spots, an obvious sign that she has been crying her eyes out.

Lori sighed. This was going to be a lot tougher than she thought. Taking a seat next to her, she touched Lola on the shoulder but Lola shook her off. Lori supposed that she should count her blessings that she was allowed to get this far.

"Lola, I…I get that you're taking this the worst out of everyone but I just want you to know tha…"

"It's my fault."

Now that was something she didn't expect to hear coming out of her mouth. How could she think that what happened to Lana was her fault? What part did she have to play in Lana's downfall that would make her think that? Was it guilt inspired by an actual role she played or rather disappointment in preventing something that she couldn't have possibly predicted? There was only one way to find out.

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"You heard me. What happened to Lana was my fault. I should've known she'd want to go outside but I was too busy trying to look pretty in front of a mirror to notice her acting strange. I was too busy looking at my stupid reflection to make sure she didn't do anything wrong. I've always been there for her when I wasn't focused on dolling myself up. I chose myself over her safety, Lori. How am I supposed to live with that for the rest of my life, that Lana's hurt and it's all because of me?"

What disturbed Lori more than her words was how determined her voice was. There was no uncertainty, no trembling. She really seemed to believe that this was all her doing and what made things worse was that it seemed like nothing in the world could change her mind. Lori wanted to bang her head against the wall in frustration. She was this close in making sure that everything was fine, that no one would feel as if Lana would be down for the count for good and she felt that she succeeded. But now, there was a new challenge ahead of her that she felt was beyond her and failure meant that someone close to her would be broken beyond repair.

Just as Lori felt her world collapsing at the seams, a vibrating noise broke her out of her musing. She hurriedly reached down into her pocket and pulled out her vibrating phone, her heart beating at high speed velocities as the word "Mom" presented itself on her touchscreen, with the option to either decline the call or accept it. She pressed the "Accept" option in a heartbeat and started to listen in on her mother from the other side.

"H-hello? Mom?"

Hearing Lori refer to her mother made Lola perk up. She followed Lori closely as they both left the room to stand in the hallway. Lori didn't say anything else, simply listening to whatever it is her mother had to say. To her, this was even more nerve racking than waiting for the judges to give her the official results of her performance of her many pageant appearances. Lana's condition was at play here. She jumped a little at a sudden thudding sound. She looked down and noticed that it was Lori's phone. Even without the speaker on, she could hear her mother asking if Lori was okay, apparently worried at the noise the phone drop made. Lola looked up just in time to see tears freely flowing from Lori's eyes and a hand cupped over her mouth.

 **A/N:** Sheesh. What a drama queen, amirite? What? Why're you all looking at me like that? Was it something I said?


	5. Chapter 5

One scenario that neither Rita or Lynn Sr. wanted for their children was for them not to live long lives. They saw the sparks of brilliance and creativity abounding in each of them and knew that they had gifts that could benefit the world should they live long enough for their visions to take place. Having to watch their caskets slowly descending into the earth to be covered by the earth was a nightmare they wished only to experience in their sleep if they had to.

Looking on helplessly as one of their children was mercilessly tugged between life and death in the back of an ambulance, hooked up to an EKG, was a close second to scenarios that the Loud parents wished to avoid entirely if they could. Unfortunately, that was what they were both experiencing as Lana Loud was being hurriedly transported to the hospital, completely unconscious and surrounded by EMT's that were constantly monitoring her.

Lynn Sr. felt that as the man of the house, it was his job to not crack under the pressure of family crisis and to be one constant that can be relied on in the face of catastrophe. Not even he, however, could prevent himself from weeping along with his wife as they looked on at the tragic sight. There was nothing about Lana's present state that suggested that she would be able to walk this off and that was if walking was even a possibility.

Almost as mentally debilitating as their sense of dread was their sense of guilt. With eleven children to call their own, all living under one roof, Lynn Sr. and Rita didn't feel challenged at all. There were, of course, moments where they would feel overwhelmed by the pressure of raising eleven kids that weren't ready to go out in the world on their own but they soon found that their parenting skills would quickly establish an equilibrium again.

Had they taken everything for granted? Had they been so arrogant that they assumed that they could just act so nonchalant and keep order in their sleep because they had gotten so used to the Loud routine? Before they could confront themselves with that possibility, they realized that they arrived at their destination and it didn't take long for Lana to be wheeled out the ambulance and rushed inside the building with both Lynn Sr. and Rita following closely behind.

* * *

 _Four hours later…_

Lynn Sr. and Rita found their current situation to be agitating and frightening to say the least. They had waited a good while after they checked Lana into the ICU and reported what they discovered to one Dr. Sampson. He told them that had to wait as they examined Lana. What they had to examine her for was something they had no knowledge of but the longer they had to wait, the more they both thought that something horrible had been discovered and intensive medical treatment had to be administered to keep her alive. Dr. Sampson had periodically told them to continue having patience as Lana needed to undergo a few more evaluations before she was allowed to have visitors in her room.

They both looked up as the room Lana was resting in opened with a click and once again, Dr. Sampson was there to meet them. The gray haired, balding man gestured for them to walk over to him, obviously to give them an updated prognosis. Rita spoke to him immediately as soon as they were within earshot.

"How's our daughter?"

"Well, she's doing fine…comparatively speaking to what could've possibly happened to her according to the incident that you gave our staff. As soon as we were able to scan her brain via CT scan, we detected no signs of brain injuries or any sort nor any abnormalities that needed immediate treatment save for some cerebral edema. Luckily, there wasn't enough accumulated to present serious life threatening issues for her and she's currently being administered mannitol via IV drip to combat the swelling. It should only take a couple of hours for her brain to reach homeostasis. Now…"

Dr. Sampson looked over his clipboard as he flipped over to the next page of his report.

"…as far as the deep laceration in her forehead, we were able to sterilize the wound and ensure that there was no infection that could've caused complications. It did require stitching, however, and in addition to that, our X-rays were able to expose a hairline nasal fracture, something that we suspected with all the swelling around her nose. We've currently set it in place with a splint."

Both parents were elated with the news but were soon filled with dread as Dr. Sampson's face hardened in contemplation.

"This…this is where things get a tad more…complicated, I'm afraid. As soon as we had her health as stabilized as we could and had her transferred to her room, some of our nurses routinely administered what's called the Pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale or PGCS."

Rita's skin paled at the word "coma". Lynn Sr. stepped in to ask Dr. Sampson what he meant with matters being complicated.

"Fortunately, your daughter was responsive to most of the assessments that determine consciousness but she's still not fully conscious and her level of responsiveness was stronger than what we saw when she first came in, which means that there are signs of improvement. She consistently scored a combined score of 10 out of a possible 15 with a 'v' value of 3, an 'm' value of 5, and an 'e' value of 2. The higher the score, the closer to consciousness that patient is in. A score lower than 8 usually means that the rate of mortality is more assured than not. This, however, is only a convenient measurement that allows us to monitor improvement or even deterioration of her mental state. In short…"

"In short, Lana's in a coma?" Lynn Sr. couldn't take the suspense and wanted to get on with the affirmation that he dreaded but expected.

"Yes. Your daughter, Lana Loud, is in a coma."

"Oh my God." was what Lynn Sr. heard his wife say in a trembling voice as she reached out to sob into his shoulder.

"As far as how long it will take for recovery, it all depends. It may last a few days, a few weeks, months, or even years. There's no real way to predict when the patient will come around from a coma and as I said earlier, our best way to keep track of any progress is with the PGCS. Although, Mr. Loud, I remember you reporting what you and one of your other daughters did to treat Lana before the ambulance arrive at your residence. Do you remember what state your daughter was in at that time?"

"I had our oldest, Lori, send the kids to their rooms while I tried my best to dry her off. The whole time, I was trying to reach out to her but she didn't respond to my voice at all. Lori and dressed that nasty wound in her head as best we could and we expected her to react but besides some weak wincing, she didn't react to that, either. Honestly, the only sign of life she had was her shallow breathing."

"Then that's an instant improvement to what our last PGCS evaluation showed us. Again, I can't say for sure when she'll come around or even if she will but I wouldn't worry too much about her. If you want to, you can some in and see her now."

"Sure but could you give us a minute?"

The doctor nodded in understanding and went back to Lana's room. Lynn Sr. sat the both of them back in their chairs and by this time, Rita was finished crying. She fished inside of her pockets for her phone and looked over at her husband.

"Lynn, honey, you go in. I-I need to make a call to Lori."

"Rita, you can make the call inside the room, you know."

"But I…"

"Look, I understand that all of this is…it's a lot to take in. But there's no escaping it. Our Lana's in intensive care and we have to face the music. We can't run from it. It's our job to be there for our children as best we can."

The sadness and misery in Rita's eyes were scorched and replaced with indignant fury.

"As best we can?! Look at what happened to our baby on our watch! This is the best we can do?!"

Rather than snap back or get angry, Lynn Sr. assuredly stroked his wife's back, something that he was relieved that she wasn't angry enough to push away from.

"I'm just as ashamed of it as you are. Believe me, if I could, I'd rather I was in that room instead of her but that's neither here nor there. We always knew that raising eleven kids wouldn't be easy. We always knew that we'd be faced with challenges but look at Lana, look at Leni, look at Luna and Lisa and Lincoln and the rest of them. They have bright futures ahead of them and as parents, we have to fight for their futures. We can't let misfortune snuff them out and we can't let our mistakes weigh them down. We owe it to Lana to make sure that she gets through this and that means that we have to confront reality."

"Didn't you hear Dr. Sampson? She may never come back from this. She may never wake up or it may get worse or even…"

"We'll cross that bridge if we have to but no matter where this…journey leaves us, we can't do it without fighting for Lana. If it means working extra shifts or working more than one job to give her the treatment she needs, then we'll do it. And if there's a chance that Lana can hear us, even now, we owe it to her to let her know that, too."

Rita looked down at her phone again and looked back at the door that lead to Lana's room. She sighed and started looking in her contacts for Lori's phone number.

"O-okay but I need to call Lori first. It's been four hours since we left and she needs to know what's happening."

"Alright, Rita. Call Lori but remember…"

"I know, Lynn. Don't run away. Our family needs us, especially Lana. I promise that I won't run."

 **A/N:** Welp, here we are, folks. I honestly would've posted this yesterday but I wanted to do my best to emulate a realistic ICU evaluation as best as I could, especially considering what Lana's going through right now. I hope it was accurate enough for no pre-med students to chew my head over it. I kinda need that for writing in case you didn't know. ;)


	6. Chapter 6

A coma? Did she hear her mother correctly? Images of a comatose, wounded Lana in a hospital bed with multiple tubes sticking into her replayed in Lori's mind from multiple angles until the weight of her shock and grief was enough to drop the phone from her limp, trembling grip. Instead of picking up the phone right away, she found herself unable to do much of anything except let tears fall freely from her eyes and cup her mouth with one hand in an attempt to muffle her sobbing. She couldn't afford to let anyone know about Lana's condition now, especially now that mostly everyone was looking optimistic.

Lola, on the other hand, was more anxious than terrified despite Loris reaction to whatever it was her mother said. She quickly scrambled on her knees to the floor to retrieve Lori's phone and answer it.

"Hello?! Mom?! Is it about Lana?! Is she okay?! What happened?!"

On the other side of the call, Rita was taken by surprise by the voice that answered her back. Knowing that Lola would take the news harder than any of her children, she decided that telling her the truth now, instead of in person, would be for the best. She felt that Lori had done enough to keep the house together in her and Lynn Sr.'s absence.

" _Lola, could you give Lori back the phone, please? I need to speak with her."_

Lola looked up at Lori, who now seemed more composed, and silently motioned for Lola to give her the phone back. Lola obeyed without hesitancy, wanting to get to the truth of Lori as quickly as possible.

"H-hello?

"Lori? Is everything okay?"

"Umm…" How was Lori supposed to respond to that? Tell her mother that she bit off more than she could chew and endured the most emotionally taxing four hours of her life? That Lola was so enveloped in her misery and self-pity that she blamed herself for Lana's demise and that she was out of platitudes to comfort her? That the revelation of her beloved sister being in a comatose state nearly brought her to her knees? Lori was startled with an honest reflection on the situation, that her resolve and will was spiraling out of control and that she just wanted to jump into bed and go to sleep with the hope that she'd wake up from a nightmare, a horrible nightmare that just didn't want to end. She seemingly spent too much time searching for an answer and Rita was able to fill in the blanks.

" _I'm sorry. What kind of question is that? Of course everything can't be okay. But don't you worry, Lori, we've asked the McBrides to pick us up from the hospital and we'll be home as soon as possible. We'll tell the other kids everything so don't worry about telling them yourself. You've done more than enough for us already."_

This was everything that Lori had wanted at the moment, a beacon of hope that allowed her to assume no more responsibility for keeping the house in order in the face of a chain of tragic events such as these. She looked back at her phone to read the time: _5:34 PM_.

' _Have I been at it this long? Thank God Mom and Dad are coming back home soon.'_

Despite feeling some shame about wanting to pass the buck off to her parents as soon as they arrived, she knew she had her limits. Making her siblings fall in line and not tear the house down was one thing. Dealing with their respective melancholy after seeing their sister laid out on the couch, blood and mud smeared over her face and clinging onto life by a thread was cataclysmic and draining enough for 10 Lori's put together.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Mom. I love you."

" _I love you, too, Lori. We'll be home as soon as we can."_

Lori hung up on the tensest phone conversation she ever had and stuffed her phone back in the recesses of her pocket. She knew that she wasn't completely out of the woods yet. She looked back down at Lola, whose expectant face and fidgeting left her with no doubt in her mind that she wasn't going anywhere until she explained what was happening with her twin sister.

"Look, uh, Lola…about Lana…the thing is…"

She realized that all of her pausing and scrambling about for an explanation was only making Lola even more antsy and anxious. She had to do something. It had been a miracle that her conversation wasn't being intruded on by any of her siblings lest she wanted to contend with the possibility of telling all of them the news, too.

"Lana's…asleep right now. Her brain's a bit scrambled so her body kinda…shut down."

Lori wished she could take her words back and stuff them down her throat before they were ever uttered. Lola may be six but she was in no ways completely naïve and in some ways, could be even more cunning than Lori would give her credit for. Now that she told her such a flimsy explanation, there was no way she wouldn't assume the worst for Lana and then in turn, barricade herself behind monuments of despondency.

"Shut down?"

Lori couldn't believe her luck. She actually bit the line. All that was left to do was reel it in and hope there wouldn't be any more objections.

"Yeah. Shut down. Kinda like a computer. She's gonna be like this for just a little bit until her system…reboots."

"When is her brain gonna 'reboot'? Did Mom say?"

"Well, that's the thing…we don't really know when it'll happen," Lori refused to tell her everything, downright revolted against the idea of telling her that "when" wasn't really guaranteed and that "if it'll happen" was more of an accurate estimation. Anything to ease Lola's guilt, even a tiny white lie, was what Lori was willing to choose right now, "but I know that Lana's gonna be fine eventually. We'll just have to get used to things being different until she gets better, okay?"

Rather than wait for her to answer, Lori picked Lola up into a hug in a somewhat desperate act to reassure her. Even though she didn't hug her back, she was still satisfied with what she got from her anyway.

"Okay. Thanks, Lori."

"Don't worry about it and remember, Lola, none of this is yours or anyone else's fault."

Lori set Lola back down on the floor and headed to her room to finally unwind. She felt like she was on hot coals all day, bouncing around back and forth between emotional highs and lows. As she opened up her door and closed it behind her, she missed Lola's hushed and doleful words.

"Thanks. I just wish I could feel the same way."

 **A/N:** I know, I know, I know, I knoooooooow. I am so sorry I didn't get this out sooner but the thing is…I've kinda been distracted with other stuff. Let's just say that this stuff involves me sitting on my bed, eating tons of junk foods, and having my laptop on standby at all times, meaning that I could've written out this chapter a lot sooner but I didn't want to because I was feeling pretty lazy. So yeah, uh, that totally explains everything and you shouldn't want to start a riot on me, right? OTL


	7. Chapter 7

Lola looked over at her phone, as she laid in her bed on her back, and swallowed nervously as time slowly crawled forward. If there was any way that she could enforce her will on the sands of time and force them to a standstill, she would do so. It was nearly 7 o'clock at night and her parents had wanted her and everyone in the house to finish their homework early so they could all go out for a drive. It wasn't the drive itself that filled Lola with dread.

It was the d _estination._

It had been two whole days since Lana had crashed into the tree in front of their house, defying the rules her parents had laid down for her for her own good. She still remembered vividly at how the blood in her veins chilled the instant she heard her mother and father walk through the door that day. Except for her, Lori, and Lily, her siblings ran to the door and surrounded their parents, all asking about what had happened to Lana. Instead of joining them in the living room, Lola opted to simply overhear them from the top of the staircase. The second she heard her mother say the word "coma", everything fell into place. She had seen enough dramas on TV to think she had an idea on what Lana was going through and Lori's earlier analogy made a lot more sense now that the severity of the situation was set in place. She wanted to join her family so badly, airing out her grievances the same way that most of them were by crying and wailing but she didn't feel like she deserved it.

She still felt responsible for everything. Lana's condition, her family's heartache…it was all her fault. She just knew it. All she could do, after hearing everything that was going on, was trundle off sadly back to her room and wallow in self-pity on her bed again with the lights off. She wasn't thinking about anything else at the time except for what had transpired that dark, tragic day. All she had to do was look. Look at the signs her sister showed that set her off in the first place, albeit far too late for anyone's good. Had she done that, she would've told Mom and Dad what Lana was up to and she would've been put in her place right away. Sure, she'd be certain that Lana would be mad at her but it beat being in a coma in the hospital.

Fresh tears welled up from her tear ducts that night, surprising Lola since she didn't think she had anymore tears left to shed but she had more than enough to cry herself to sleep, ending the worst day of her life in the agony of solitude and regret.

Back in the present, Lola looked over at her phone again. It was six minutes before seven. In six minutes, she and her family would be driving to the hospital to go see Lana. According to her parents, the doctors had told them that it helped comatose patients, especially those who weren't completely unconscious and knocking on death's door, like Lana thankfully was, if loved ones came in and talked to them as if they were simply interacting with them on a normal daily basis. This would possibly speed up the recovery process. This would be the first of many days that this would happen for all of them, until Lana got better, but Lola was reluctant to entertain the idea, let alone be a willing participant.

Visiting Lana would be the same as seeing the handiwork that Lola felt that she caused. She wouldn't know what to do seeing her all wrapped up and stitched up like a botched Halloween costume design. Just thinking about it was enough for her to forget about her appetite or making herself look pretty if her current attire was any indication. Instead of her usual pink dress, crown, and gloves, Lola had swapped out of them for a plain pink T-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers the day after the accident. She didn't gussy herself up with make-up, either, telling herself that looking like a model was a privilege for those who didn't abandon their sisters. "Paying for her sins" by cleaning up after Lana's pets and feeding them by herself couldn't make her feel any better about what she had done and the fact that she even once thought about easing her own guilt just made her feel worse.

Her parents, at first, were concerned by Lola's behavior and she was even called over to the grown-up table at dinner yesterday, by her parents, to explain herself. Lola insisted that she was fine and just wanted to do something different for a change. Since her new look also meant that she was acting way less entitled and bossy than before, her siblings all vouched for her, convincing Rita and Lynn Sr. to let it go and commend Lola for acting so mature.

Sighing, she got herself off her bed and went over to the mirror to… _no_. She stopped dead in her tracks when she was just a few feet away from the propped-up mirror next to her bed and looked angrily at her reflection. That was what the old Lola did, refining her looks for the sake of being praised and admired. The Lola that was too blind to see the tragedy of her twin coming from a mile away. The new Lola would take care of the ultimate source of her vanity swiftly and without restraint.

Slipping off one of her shoes, she chucked it at the mirror in front of her, watching in dissatisfaction as a slight crack was made.

' _Not good enough,'_ she mused in annoyance and slipped off her second shoe to do the same thing again. Another thud rang out as shoe met glass but nothing happened except for the crack getting slightly bigger. The frustration at herself, that she had kept restrained under a mask of indifference to the world around her, began to bubble out as she trembled in fury and clenched her fists. Yelling out a guttural cry of frustration, Lola ran at the mirror as fast as she could. Before she could collide with the mirror, she leaped up in the air, straightening out her leg in front of her as she slammed her foot hard against the glass, creating a bigger crack than before but still nothing that she could feel any sort of accomplishment from. She fell on her back, slightly bumping the back of her head against the carpet but quickly getting back up on her feet, ignoring the mild pain. She gripped both sides of the mirror, taking one last look at her crooked reflection, and slammed it hard against the floor, watching on as tiny piece of glass shards burst from underneath and scattered all over the floor around it.

In no time at all, the door of her room flung open, revealing a distraught and confused Rita and Lynn Sr. standing outside and surveying the damage. They both looked on as their daughter breathed heavily in exaggerated puffs, looking on at what she obviously just caused.

"Lola Loud!" exclaimed Rita with a mixture of horror and ire in her voice. That was enough to snap Lola out of her self-induced rage to look up at her parents. The horrified look on her face was enough to soften her parents' looks immediately. The situation finally dawned on Lola as she replayed the events that just transpired in her head over again.

What had she done? How could she be so stupid as to believe that the mirror compelled her to neglect the one person in the world that she loved the most? All she could see in herself was a sick monster who did everything she could to deflect any guilt that she should've had to bear alone. The sudden shift in behavior, the wardrobe change, the caring of Lana's pets…had it all just been an act? A desperate cry of coddling and reassurance from her loves ones that she wasn't to blame? Lola began to become susceptible to the idea and now realized, to her shame, that thanks to her lashing out, everyone around her would realize what a monster she was, too.

Dropping to the floor on her knees, Lola began to sob loudly, no longer caring about retaining an image of acceptance for what her family had to endure thanks to her. But even in her disparaging of herself, she couldn't help but find one small corner of her aching heart that begged for those around her to forgive her.

 **A/N:** Remember when this story was mostly about Lana? Yeah, me too. Guess this is what it feels like when that quirky guest star in a sitcom gets so popular, they start getting more prominence until they become main cast stars themselves. Oh well. C'est la vie.


	8. Chapter 8

Any time the Loud family would take a trip in Vanzilla, conversation was sure to be abound, unless everyone, sans the driver, had a reason to be tired and opted for rest rather than chatting amongst themselves. But after what had just happened with Lola, none of the occupants in the family van were in the mood for lively, animated conversation. Because of what took place less than ten minutes ago, Rita and Lynn Sr. decided that she would take the kids to see Lana while he stayed behind to have a heart to heart with Lola.

A cloud of uncertainty and gloom loomed over the Loud children's heads, much to their chagrin. Visiting Lana was supposed to be an opportunity to make the family whole again, ensuring that a semblance of normalcy would return to their lives by involving Lana as much as they could. But now that it was clear that Lola had issues of her own, this was yet another misfortune that they felt made family matters more tense and apprehensive, only this time, the crisis would be within the walls of their own home.

Rita was slightly more confident in the stability of her family being restored but she did nothing to force any contrived, meaningless chatter to take the weight of soberness off her children's minds. She had a lot of thinking to do herself in this one hour long drive.

* * *

What would happen if Lana never recovered? How could her family move on like nothing ever happened? Would Lola, the sibling closest to Lana, ever be the same again?

No. Those were "what if's" that would only drag down the morale even further than necessary. If it ever came to that, crossing that bridge would be the most painful experience she would ever endure but that would only have to be if it happened. Hypotheticals were the last thing they needed to concentrate on. Right now, Lana needed them. She only hoped that once they got back, Lola would be ready to face the music the next time they did this.

It had taken quite a while to make sure that all the glass was cleaned off the carpet or at least, that's what it had seemed like to Lola, who was currently sitting in her parent's bed, waiting for her father to put away the broom and dustpan to walk over to her and have a talk. It wasn't her father possibly yelling at her for the careless destruction of expensive furniture that bothered her. She'd feel relieved if it only came down to that.

She screwed everything up. She desperately wanted to keep her guilt locked away, all while pretending that she was coping with Lana's downfall as fine as everyone else seemed to. But she had put herself in the spotlight and now everyone knew that deep down, she was certainly not okay. In those moments of her crying out loud, she gave up all pretenses of her dealing with the Lana situation just fine, all because there was still a part of her soul begging to be comforted, but now that the waterworks were over and the hysteria was diffused, she couldn't help but regret her choice to cast her troubles out into the open.

"Lola?"

Lola looked up and saw her father standing next to the doorway of his bedroom, leaning against the frame. She couldn't read his inner thoughts but it wasn't hard to assume that he wasn't exactly feeling chipper like he usually was.

"Y-yes, Dad?" she squeaked out, trembling as her father approached her. He didn't look angry but all the same, he couldn't be pleased with her. And that was over a mirror. How would he respond to her telling him that everything was her fault? Would he disown her? Abandon her for her to wallow in her shame? She felt like she deserved nothing more than that but all the same…

She was surprised that instead of lashing out at her, her Dad reached out towards her and tightly grabbed her tiny frame into a hug. No words were spoken but plenty was said by father and daughter alike. He wasn't angry at her at all for what she did. He must've known that she was going through inner turmoil once she finally snapped and let her emotions run wild. She, on the other hand, couldn't betray his trust by reaching out and returning the hug, as if she was worthy of his affection. She had to make things right. True repentance, in her mind, was putting herself on the chopping block for her crimes.

"It's my fault," Lola began weakly, wanting to get her confession out of the way before her father could regret showing love to someone that she felt he wouldn't want anything to do with. She owed him that much, "What happened to Lana…it's my fault."

Lynn Sr. pulled away from Lola, looking at her in the face to really see if what he thought she just said came out of her mouth.

"Sweetheart, what could possibly make you think that?" Lynn Sr. asked, absolutely troubled by his daughter's confession.

"It's just," Lola felt herself choking up but she powered through, "She was there with me, right before she went downstairs to go outside. She kept pestering me about the rain not stopping and I just wanted to be left alone. I didn't want to deal with her because I was too busy worrying about my looks. Had I stopped her, had I told her not to go through with what she was planning then none of this would've happened."

It all started to make more sense to Lynn Sr. but he still couldn't see how Lola could find herself responsible for Lana.

"What do you mean? How could you have possibly known what she would've done? Just because she was there with you doesn't mean you could read her mind."

"No, but I realized that something was wrong after a few minutes after she left. The way she said she wanted to go downstairs and watch TV. It just didn't feel right. But if I was really paying attention to her before she left me...I could've stopped her. I just know it," Lola answered, doing her best to let tears fall from her eyes. There it was, all out in the open and all for her father to see. At least now, she could look forward to having peace of mind. Despite her father doing everything he seemed to do to absolve blame from her Lola was still puzzled by how insistently gentle Lynn Sr. responded to her.

"No, Lola. You can't blame yourself. Your mother and I are the ones responsible for you all. We should've been keeping an eye out for Lana and…"

"No. That's not an excuse," Lola interjected, "You can't watch all of us all the time. That's why when you can't be there for us right away, we look after each other the best way we can. And when I should've been there for Lana…I failed her." Just when she felt the sting of tears burn her ducts, her father embraced her in another hug. Lola could feel the rumble of a chuckle coming from him.

"But you did look out for Lana, honey," Lynn Sr. responded. He seemed to have some of his spirits back now after what Lola just said and for the life of her, Lola couldn't see why. Where was the anger at her? Where was the hurt and pain? Where did this reasoning behind Lola looking out for Lana come from.

"Huh? How could I do that when I wanted nothing to do with her?" Lola asked, now more befuddled than forlorn. Lynn Sr. was more than happy to answer.

"You were the first one to realize that Lana was possibly in trouble. You said it yourself. You thought something was wrong with her and you went to go check on her, didn't you?"

Lola simply nodded.

"And last time I checked, you were the one who found out she was in danger and got our attention, didn't you?"

Again, Lola nodded. Where exactly was he going with this? She knew all of this before so why was he telling it to her again?

"So how can you possibly say that you failed her? If it hadn't been for you, Lana would've probably been a lot worse off than she is now. There's a big chance she can return to her normal life and it's all because of how quickly you acted."

Well…that was certainly unexpected. Lola never really thought of it like that. While it was true that Lola at least figured out what was wrong before anyone else could and alerted her family to Lana's peril, she still felt like she could've done more and she knew that she could've but not because she didn't want to save Lana but because she didn't know the consequences of what letting Lana leave would've done. She had allowed hindsight to make her feel guilty and hold herself to a higher standard than anyone should've had to endure. All that time she could've been embraced by her family...all of it wasted on self-pity.

"We all can't be perfect, Lola, and we certainly can't be mind-readers. You didn't allow Lana to walk into danger. You prevented an even greater tragedy. Whatever you think you need to do to make up for your so called mistake isn't true. You don't have to give up being who you are and you definitely don't have to walk around with a chip on your shoulder."

For the first time in days, Lola felt vindicated. She may not have had her sister with her right now but at least she could look herself in the mirror now…or at least, when she got herself a new one. She returned the hug was tightly as she could, her voice muffled in the crook of her father's elbow.

"Thank you," Lola expressed with genuine happiness. She jolted a little when she felt a few wet drops hit the crown of her head. She realized now that her father was crying himself.

"No, Lola. Thank _you_."

 **A/N:** I know, I know. I'm kind of dragging my feet here. I really didn't want to be that guy that let people know what was going to happen in the next chapter but I think a sign of story progression here would be for the best in case. Lana will make an appearance the next chapter, don't you worry. In what capacity she'll do so…well, that's something you'll have to figure out.


	9. Chapter 9

Unlike the first time that Rita Loud went to see her daughter in the ICU, she felt much more optimistic and eager. Of course, knowing that one of her children was in a coma was the last thing from pleasing but when Dr. Sampson had informed her that the coma wasn't critically severe and that familiar voices could potentially stir Lana into consciousness, she quickly arranged for these daily Lana visits, both to familiarize the rest of her children with Lana's condition and most importantly, to supplement all the treatment and therapy she was getting around the clock.

However, as she mused over the sight of her children, talking to each other right outside Lana's room, sans Lily, whom she was holding in her arms, she still felt a heavy heart over the fact that Lola wasn't there to join them. Regardless of what she found when she and her husband ran into Lola's room earlier, she knew that even though giving Lola same space to cool out and talk about her repressed emotions with Lynn Sr. was the right move, she still felt like she was depriving her of a tradition that should've started off at the right foot.

But she couldn't let that setback falter needed progress. Right now, she needed to set the stage for what was to be a hopefully very short-lived procedure.

"Can I have your attention everyone?" Rita called over to her children. They all soon scrambled into a single file line, each one making sure to have their attention focused solely on their mother. A few nurses, walking by the scene, found the little assembly rather amusing as they chuckled to themselves about it.

Rita spoke to them again, this time, with a more gentle, motherly tone.

"Now, I know all of you are ready to go in there and see your sister but I think it's important that we set some ground rules before we do this. I expect you all to remember them after today, yes?"

Rita smiled at their nodding heads. Despite the severity of the situation, Rita was slightly apprehensive of her children not acting in one, singular accord. She continued with her instructions, briefly diverting her attention to look down at Lily, who was tugging at the color of her sweater a bit.

"First, remember that there's a good chance that she can hear you and understand you so try not to bog her down with too much worry. I know you all miss her but the point is to not treat all of this like you're going away forever and you'll never see her again.

Second, I understand that you all have a lot to say to her but do remember that there are others who want to say something to Lana, too. In short, don't go on for too long, okay?" She almost chuckled at the disappointed looks on some of their faces, with Leni's being the most prominent. Of course, it wasn't because of malice but because of the negative implications that those despondent few seemed to pick up from her words and she reassured them, "Oh come now, it's not like you won't see her again. She'll be here tomorrow for all of you to share your thoughts with."

The smiles on their faces was a sign to Rita that it was the right time to continue with spelling out the ground rules.

"Third, you'll all be going in one at a time. Well, all of you except for the person that takes Lily in there with them. I figured that some of you might want to say something to Lana that you don't want anyone else to hear and that's perfectly okay. You should be allowed to have that privilege."

That got Leni's attention, who by Rita's assumptions, looked like she had a huge chip on her shoulder being lifted off. Rita didn't know why but squashed the curiosity from brewing out of control. She granted her children the privacy that she felt they deserved and she wouldn't be a hypocrite by prying into their business.

"Fourth, Lana can still react to feelings of touch and sound, although not as well as a fully conscious person can. That means that if she reacts to your words, don't get your hopes up and assume that she's waking up. Also, please refrain from making any loud noises. You don't have to whisper to her, though. Indoor voices will do fine. Plus, this is a hospital. I don't think the medical staff would appreciate us making too much noise, especially since we're going to be visiting Lana as often as we can."

Rita handed Lily over to Lori, knowing that despite not grasping the gravity of Lana's predicament, she'd still want to see Lana, too.

"Fifth, Lana still needs medical attention. If nurses and doctors come in to check on her, they have the floor. No exceptions. Understand?"

Again, everyone nodded and waited for more rules concerning their conduct. After a brief pause of silence passed, being the oldest of the group, Lori spoke up for her siblings when she asked her mother, "Is that all you need us to know?"

"That about covers it, Lori. Now then," Rita braced herself for the question that she had a feeling would cause a bit of conflict and tension but hopefully nothing that would spiral out of control, "who would like to go in first?"

* * *

It still surprised Lori when out of her siblings, only Lucy and Lynn were the ones to demand first entry. She was certain that going first would be a spot that at least half of them would want to enjoy for themselves.

Returning back to the matter at hand, knowing full well that squabbling over such a petty "honor" was a waste of time, Lori decided that rock, paper, scissors would quickly and quietly resolve the issue at hand. Lucy and Lynn agreed to the terms of the game: the winner would go in first, followed by the runner-up and lastly, the one who lost the first game.

Ultimately, Lori won. Lucy came in second, meaning she'd go in after Lori was done and Lynn would follow Lucy in third. That left everyone else to decide who'd be going in after them.

Even though Lori had company with Lily in her arms, she still felt a tad bit nervous about confronting Lana, despite her wanting to go first.

But as she walked in the room and closed the door behind her, she quickly realized that wanting to go first and knowing what to do with that right were two different things.

Lori gasped at the sight before her. It wasn't as bad as she thought but the sight of Lana's nasal splint and breathing apparatus still shook her. It was a far cry from the bloody, bruised mess that she cleaned up on the couch two days ago but it still wasn't a comforting sight.

Besides Lily's babbling and the beeps of the various machines surrounding Lana, Lori reveled in the silence that greeted her as she walked across the room to grab a chair and slide it next to Lana's bed. She sat and made a motion to speak but stopped herself.

She wanted to get off on the right foot but what if she said the wrong thing? Would Lana hold a grudge against her if once she woke up? If she woke up? What was she supposed to say anyways? How exactly did one talk to a comatose patient anyways?

The slight rustling of sheets caught Lori's attention, followed by low murmuring that was obviously coming from Lana. Lana bit back a yelp and quickly remembered what her mother said about Lana; she'd react slightly to sounds and touch but not by much. Not wanting to drag this out any further, Lori spoke with words that were the first to pop up in her head?

"How's it going, Lana?" Had she not been holding Lily, Lori would've facepalmed herself for asking that. What was wrong with her? She might as well walk around and start asking crippled patients how it was going. It'd go over just as well as she thought it would if anyone else was in here to point fingers at her and judge her.

"Ugh, that was literally the dumbest question I could've asked. What is wrong with me?" Lori chided at herself, knowing that she should've been way more capable than that.

Rather than dwelling on her self-professed mistake, Lori decided that switching gears in a new direction was the proper way to go.

"If what Mom and Dad and all those doctors say is true then you can hear me well enough. That means that you get to realize how much you mean to me," Lori began, feeling herself choking up at the sentiment she was pouring out. She swallowed it down, though. If Lana could understand her, she needed to get through this without tears.

She _needed_ to. Not just because she didn't want to defy her mother's rules about inducing worry and fear but because she wanted her next words to be crystal clear.

"I don't do it as often as I should. Between Bobby and school, I don't get involved with all of you that often," Lori admitted with a tinge of regret in her voice. Although it was no secret that her siblings drove her up the wall, she wouldn't trade them for the world. But still, knowing that and showing that were two different concepts and Lori felt that she wasn't holding up her end of the bargain, a failure that nearly made bile creep up in her throat.

Once again, Lana's low murmuring caught Lori's attention. She didn't know for sure but Lori was certain that Lana could definitely understand her and that was more than enough for her to continue on.

"Ever since I could remember, I was always excited every time Mom had to go to the hospital to give birth to another sibling. You and Lola were no different. I still remember how often you liked to pull my hair and bite my fingers as soon as you started teething. I always liked to complain but truthfully, I kinda liked the attention."

Lori laughed but her merriment was cut short when Lily started tugging at a loose strand of Lori's hair that was perched over her shoulder. Once she got Lily's fingers away from her follicles, the realization of her memories catching up with her in the present was enough to make her laugh again, although much harder than she expected.

It took her at least a full minute to calm herself down and resume speaking with Lana.

"I may like to call you twerp and whatever but between you and me, the biggest fear I had about going to college was that I'd go off to a university and leave you all behind. Sure, I'd be able to visit you guys every now and then but it wouldn't be the same as being with you all the time."

Lori had to pause again to fight back tears. Unlike Lana's present state, going to college was something that she anticipated. It meant she got to attend an institution of higher learning and discover her true calling. But all the same, that meant that she had to leave her family behind. Not in the sense that she'd never see them again but not as often as she wanted.

"And when I go off into the world, I want to be able to see all of you off before I do. That means you too, Lana," Lori amended with a jovial tone that carried authoritative connotations all the same.

"So please…come back to us sooner rather than later. It'd mean the world to me if you did. We'll be back tomorrow to see you but still, it'd be so much better if you could talk to us again."

* * *

"I always thought I'd be prepared for events like this," Lucy started in her usual moody tone, betraying any sense of remorse or sadness that she truly harbored in her heart. Lori had left her chair next to Lana's side after her turn was up and Lucy commandeered it for her own comfort as she presently sat next to Lana.

Like Lori, she knew that she wanted to be the first to speak with Lana but was still hesitant on how to go about doing so. Not with the words, however, but with the fear that had been plaguing her since these arrangements with Lana were put into motion. Not the fear she lived for when she watched a scary movie or read a dark novel. The kind that she felt was stemmed from a place of anxiety about how Lana, should she be able to hear her now, would feel about Lucy's words.

It wasn't news to Lucy that she knew that she came off as uncaring and apathetic to mostly everyone around her, even her own family. She knew that she wouldn't want to change her ways for anyone but regardless, it made situations like her current heart-to-heart with Lana awkward for her.

Would Lana even believe her if she told her how much she missed her?

"I mean, between all the casket making, horror novel reading, and eulogy preparing, I figured something like this, something that technically hasn't killed you would be easy to stomach," Lucy honestly confessed, wanting the truth out without delay, "but it's not."

Lucy took on a rare smile as she started to gain confidence in herself and her honesty. The more she embraced her sorrow for Lana, the easier it became to share her thoughts. That meant that Lana would be sure to realize that, too.

"And truth be told, I'm glad there's still a part of me that embraces the cold, horrifying feeling of dread and uncertainty. I was afraid that I'd just shrug it off and go back to writing poetry in the vents like nothing happened. I may have an appreciation for the darkness and elements of death but I have a bigger appreciation for the joy that you bring into our lives."

Lucy reached out and softly gripped onto one of Lana's exposed hands, being extra careful not to knock any IV's loose from her wrist. She jumped a little when said hand curled a little.

"I'm not ready to lose a sister and I never will be. Don't give into the dark shadows that fog your mind. That's ironic coming from me, I know, but this situation calls for it."

There wasn't much else for Lucy to bring up except for one last thing she discovered when she went to school earlier and ran into some of Lana's friends, who all found out about Lana from Lola.

"By the way, your classmates wanted me to let you know that they miss you, too," Lucy's smile took on a more fanciful edge when she added, "Especially the one that you keep telling us likes you. Melton, was it? He misses you the most."

* * *

Lynn nearly bolted towards Lana after Lucy had left but quickly reminded herself to approach the situation in a calm demeanor.

Although she was slightly shocked to see Lana the way she was, that didn't stop her from enthusiastically greeting Lana was if nothing was amiss. Unlike Lori and Lucy, Lynn knew exactly what to say and how to say it.

Sher took her place right next to Lana, although she was standing rather than sitting down. She didn't have much to talk to Lana about anyways.

"How's it going, partner in slime?" Lynn laughed at her little nickname she had made up for Lana as soon as her affinity for getting dirty was known to everyone. The name stuck ever since and Lynn found it the most fitting when she and Lana would roughhouse with each other, although not as rigorously or frequently as she did with Lincoln.

That very fact was the inspiration for Lynn's current conversation with her comatose sister.

"I know that I usually like to spend a lot of time with Lincoln but all the same, you're one of the few people I know that can get down and dirty and appreciate the feeling of getting dirt under your nails," Lynn stated proudly, "Not even Lincoln has that same level of admiration."

Lynn didn't feel as though she needed to drag out her conversation any further and felt that getting to the conclusion would help move things along with everyone else waiting outside.

"So basically, what I'm trying to say is that…I'm sorry. I don't include you as much as I ought to and even if you'd rather do something else, I should still try and make the effort. That's why, when you get to ditch the hospital and go back to living with us again, I'm gonna make sure that you and I spend a lot more time together. Way more."

Lynn leaned down to press a light kiss on Lana's forehead before she turned on her heels to leave. When she was halfway out, she suddenly stopped and remembered one last thing she'd want to get out in the open.

"And well, I also promise not to give you too much to unclog in the toilet after I get through with my meatball subs," Lynn swore, albeit somewhat reluctantly. She knew how much her meatball sub eating habits were a nuisance to those who wanted to enter a bathroom that didn't smell horribly but she couldn't help herself. It had to be worse for Lana, though, who always took it upon herself to unclog the toilet should Lynn's relief require her to do so.

Although, now that Lynn thought about it, Lana always seemed to approach that situation with a smile on her face anyways so maybe, Lynn didn't have to change much in that department after all.

"Although, if you change your mind, I can always up my game. I know how much you love a challenge."

* * *

While the rock, paper, scissors trio made their respective visits, the remaining Loud children mulled over who would go in after Lynn. Luna was eager to talk to Lana about some exciting news that she had for her but wondered if she would be wasting her time since Lana might not even understand her anyways, even after her mother suggested that it was possible.

The time to step up came as soon as Lynn left Lana's room. Since Luna knew that they'd be back to see Lana again, she wanted to get her talk with Lana going and made a move to see her but noticed Lincoln mirroring her movements. They both stopped when they both got in the way of each other right outside the door. Lincoln insisted that he could go after Luna and Luna obliged, ruffling her younger brother's hair while commending him for his manners.

Once she went in to see Lana, she got straight to the point, wanting to let Lana know of the gift that she had managed to get for her. If she felt that Lana had missed out on it, she'd tell it to her over and over again. As many times as she needed to in order to get the message of her devotion to her across. However, as great as she felt it would be for Lana to hear about, she had a pretty clumsy start, taking a few minutes to get herself grounded in the root of her tale.

"See, Chunk knew a guy, who knew someone's aunt, who knew a rabbi, who…" "Man, I lost my train of thought for a second. Gimme a moment."

Luna rubbed her temples, trying to get all of the information that Chunk told her to the surface but came up empty. Sighing in frustration, she abandoned her initial mission to just come clean with her.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter. All I know is that thanks to some connections that Chunk has, and lots and lots of begging on my end, he managed to get an autograph of Blarney the Dinosaur for you," Luna beamed from ear to ear when she saw Lana moving her lips ever so slightly, struggling to make some kind of vocalizations.

"It didn't come cheap, though. I had to sell some of my amps and speakers for the cash to make it happen as quickly as it did but it's like Mick Swagger once said," Luna explained, clearing her throat and donning her British accent that she loved to slip into every so often, "You can put a price on the greatest albums ever made but not on family."

She got up from the chair she was sitting in and like Lynn, pecked Lana on her forehead.

"So keep on fighting all those bad vibes in your brain, little dove," Luna proclaimed adoringly, "It's not a full house without a family of thirteen."

* * *

"Hey, Lana," said her brother Lincoln from the side of her bed, "It's me, Lincoln. Although, I guess you probably already know that…if you can hear me that is."

Lincoln weakly chuckled, mostly out of nervousness instead of at amusement of his own joke. Like Luna, he had news for Lana that she thought she'd like to hear but still…

Seeing Lana laid out unconscious, her nose set in place with a splint and several tubes sticking into her was not a pretty sight. Lincoln realized a while ago that Lana was one of the most cheerful, enthusiastic people he ever knew, never mind his own family.

She never seemed to be completely bogged down with worry and regret, opting to just dive in headfirst and make the best out of any situation.

But now? That was completely impossible and that, even more than Lana's physical well-being, was enough to get Lincoln to start crying. He did his best to keep quiet, not wanting to get his family's attention and get him coddled, as if he was the one who needed support. He could get over himself if it meant helping Lana get out of the hospital sooner.

He wiped the tears from his eyes while stifling his weeping to continue with his story.

"So, uh, anyways, I was watching _ARGGH!_ yesterday and when they went to a commercial break, I saw that there was an advertisement for a monster truck rally that's coming to Royal Woods next month," Lincoln stated while fishing into his pocket. He went on with his tale while he kept on digging for whatever it was he was looking for.

"I know you can't see them but as soon as I heard about it," At last, he reached the sweet spot and pulled out two tickets. He reached over to Lana's hand and placed one of them between her fingers, "I got two tickets for us to go to it so uh…yeah. I, uh," Lincoln let the tears cascade forth again, "I-I know you like monster truck rallies so I figured y-you'd want to go see them."

Instead of stopping himself to clean his face up from snot and tears, Lincoln didn't stop himself. It's not like Lana could see him anyways.

"Y-you can have a-all the chili dogs and popcorn you want, okay? It'll be our little secret. I promise," Lincoln finished with a smile on his face, his crying fit calmed down to simple tear flow and sniffling. If anything could help him through this troubling time, it'd be seeing Lana getting excited over monster trucks and chowing down on snacks.

"We'll all be waiting for you as soon as you're back, Lana. However long it takes, we'll still be waiting for you."

* * *

Luan decided to go in next when she looked over at Leni and Lisa and realized that they were too engrossed in their own thoughts to make a move towards the door.

Ever since Lana's incident, Luan didn't want to keep her joy and laughter down to oblivion. As someone who wanted to become a future professional comedienne, a skill that Luan had to master was knowing her audience and since her audience was her coping and grieving family, she realized that she had a tough crowd ahead of her to keep happy, as well as herself.

At first, like she expected, her jokes and pranks were met with apathy and indifference, a reaction that she dreaded more than anything else. At least anger would be something resembling interest…

But after one prank on Luna got a laugh out of them both, Luan had the perfect idea for what she was going to show off to Lana once she got better.

As she sat by Lana's side, watching her face closely and squealing internally at all the slight twitches it made, Luan made her plans known to a hopefully receptive Lana.

"In case you were wondering, I've managed to get a lot of the Loud house's best," Luan giggled at what she was going to say next, "And _not_ so best moments on video. We can always watch them together but I'll give you a little bit of a sneak peek of what I managed to get out of Luna."

Luan began to chuckle as she remembered the successful prank she masterfully executed.

"So yesterday morning, I managed to get Luna to trip on a snare I laid out for her when she went to the bathroom to take a shower. BAM! A bucket full of fish heads dumped right on her head!"

Luan couldn't help herself and began to laugh as she remembered all the ranges of emotions that Luna went through as the realization of Luan's practical joke came full circle.

"You should've seen the look on her face! The only way she would've been onto me is if she would've smelled something fishy going on!"

She snickered at her pun, praising herself for easily slipping in a joke that she was sure would have Lana in tears from laughter.

"Speaking of jokes, I got one that someone like you should appreciate it. I know you'll love this one," Luan affirmed confidently as she started to tell her joke.

"Why did the compost feel bad about stealing from his friend?"

The pregnant pause, that would've been filled with Lana asking Luan for the answer, brought Luan out of her stride a bit as she felt a tinge of forlorn at the revelation. She went on, nonetheless, desiring to finish her joke.

"It's because he knew that his reputation would be _soiled_! Hahahahaha! Get it?!"

Again, no response came from Lana, except for what Luan thought was a slight twitch at the corner of Lana's mouth. She looked fondly over at, briefly threading her fingers in Lana's bangs.

"Yeah, you got it. I'm sure you did. When you finally get up, you can tell me all about how you liked that one. And don't worry, I've got a whole book full of them just for you."

* * *

Once Luan exited from Lana's room, it was Lisa that volunteered to go in and talk to Lana next. Besides, Leni, she dreaded going in there the most but understood that coming clean with her guilt was better than suppressing it and pretending that it wasn't there.

As a girl of science, Lisa realized that what her family was doing, trying to stir Lana back into consciousness, was well within the realm of plausibility. It was that knowledge, however, that made her afraid. She wouldn't know exactly how Lana would react to hearing her voice but Lisa figured that her reception would not be warm.

She realized that she didn't make the best impression before Lana had taken that nasty bump against the tree. She was irritated, completely vexed with Lana's queries about the rainfall stopping and once Lana was out of her sight, she wanted it to stay that way for a good while so she could have the comfort of solitude return to her once more.

Lisa was never one to shy away from her emotions a lot, thinking that confronting and accepting them was the best way to deal with them swiftly and efficiently. That meant letting everyone know what was on her mind. Sparing feelings was the last thing she wanted to worry about. In other words…

…she told Lana to buzz off and emphatically made sure that she knew that Lisa would no longer want her company. No longer want _her_.

It made her feel sick to her stomach knowing that yes, while she did indeed miss Lana and mourned her terrible fate, she was expected to act like everyone else, everyone else that hadn't been fed up with Lana just mere moments before disaster struck.

As she took her seat in the bedside chair, she couldn't help but take a studious glance at all of Lana's vitals, as well as her voluntary responses to brief touches she administered over a few patches of skin. Lisa was thrilled to see all of Lana's semi-receptive reactions, confirming the hopeful prognosis of Lana's coma before her very eyes. It wasn't a 100% guarantee, not even close. But at least it was something to be excited about.

Now, all that was left was to come clean with herself.

"I…I realize that the last time we spoke to each other, I was doing my best to shut you out. I even prevented you from seeing me after you left my room that day," Lisa confessed.

"But…I never wanted to shut you out completely. I swear, I just needed a little break was all and I knew that once my barometric equipment failed to give you the proper estimation, that you'd come back to know the score. I just wanted some space. That's always been the way I am...I suppose." No. it wasn't good enough. Now it just sounded like Lisa was just trying to save her skin instead of trying to reconcile. Lisa firmly steered out of the pity part zone, "Flimsy excuse at best, I know, but I always intended to see you again after I had some time to myself, just like I always do. I love you, Lana. I hope there's not a moment where you think otherwise."

Sighing in relief, Lisa was happy that she had gotten that off her chest. Whether Lana would come to realize that was a story for another day but there was still another piece of business that Lisa thought was only right to bring up, business that she only partially regretted letting Lana, comatose or otherwise, know about.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Lana, and I realize that this may be in rather unfitting but…I can't pretend that you'll get out of this as you once were. Although a full recovery is plausible, there's still a possibility of cognitive impairment because of your coma," Lisa stated matter-of-factly, complimented by her pushing her eyeglasses up further on the bridge of her nose.

"But should it come to that," Lisa vowed with her gently grasping onto Lana's closest hand "I promise that on my honor and credibility as a scientist…no, as your sister, I will not rest until you are the Lana Loud that we all knew before tragedy befell you."

She looked down at Lana's unyielding facial expressions and profoundly swore, "You have my word."

* * *

Leni Loud was quite conflicted.

She dolefully thought back to two days ago, back to when she was watching _Lawfully Flaxen_ on TV. Back to when she caught Lana trying to sneak outside and play in the mud.

Back to when Lana had _tricked_ her, exploited her fear to break the rules.

Once Lori had explained to her that spider armies were just a fabrication, Leni discerned what emotions and feelings were swirling inside of her at the time of Lori's clarification.

She was hurt that Lana lied to her.

She was confused as to why she would do something so nasty and cruel.

She was worried that Lana just saw her as a means to an end instead of a real human being.

She was furious, both at herself for falling for it and at Lana for doing that to her.

All in all, Leni was up for giving Lana the cold shoulder, both to let her know that what she did was not okay and to let her own feelings settle before she would confront Lana about the stunt that she pulled.

But then it happened. Lana had gotten herself hurt and wound up in the hospital, just a room away from where Leni was currently sitting beside as she waited for Lisa to be done in there. Although she wanted to clear the air between them, she was still anxious about doing so.

First and foremost, she knew that she was extremely distressed about what had occurred, not wanting to wish that on anyone, no matter how upset someone might make her. That went triple for anyone in her family. But still, she couldn't decide how she wanted to let her true thoughts be presented.

Was it right to let Lana know how wrong she was? Would it be fair to let Lana know how hurt and angry that she had made Leni for tricking her?

Of course. Absolutely. There was no doubt about it now that Leni really thought about it. She wouldn't want to anyone keeping aggression and apprehension towards her bottled up. She'd want them to be honest with her and tell her the truth so that there could be a chance that relations could be restored.

Even if Lana couldn't truly understand Leni's words, Leni could at least appreciate the self-therapeutic notion of airing out her grievances, something that Leni was happy about since she knew she could talk to Lana alone.

Lisa finally left Lana's room, holding the door out for Leni to walk through. Leni entered with slight trepidation and silently gasped at Lana's constraints and surroundings. It wasn't as bad as she thought she'd see but it was still enough to tug at the heartstrings.

Once she sat down next to Lana, Leni began with a question that she thought would make Lana sweat if she were actually fully conscious.

"There was no spider army, was there, Lana?"

Leni already knew the answer to her rhetorical question and she also knew that ire was slowly beginning rise within her.

"You…you tricked me. I should be mad at you but…" Leni took a deep breath to calm herself and quell any hostility that was conspicuous in the inflection of her voice.

She had already forgiven Lana. She wouldn't need Lana going through a coma in order for her to be able to do so, either. More than anything, she wanted Lana to wake up.

"All I care about is that you come home. I know you will soon but still, it's not going to be as much fun without you around," Leni conceded, despite the memory of Lana's trick still fresh in her brain. She loved and cherished all of her family, whether they did misdeed towards her or not.

She herself was no perfect angel, either, having to make up for mistakes she made in the past herself, mistakes that made her feel guilty and question her worth as a sister. But through it all, they never abandoned her. It'd be hypocritical of her to do the same to Lana.

Speaking of her family, she was still forlorn about the fact that Lola had to stay behind because of her freak-out. She knew that Lana would want to hear the voice of her twin the most, a sentiment that she expressed out loud.

"I know you probably want to hear Lola's voice right now but she can't be here right now. Speaking of Lola, she's been taking care of all of your pets for you. I've never seen her so dirty before like I have for the past few days. I imagine that you wouldn't be able to believe it, either."

Leni chortled at the brief image she caught of Lola, trying to keep a hold on one of Lana's hogs as it bolted down the hallway to run amok. While she was thinking back to that funny scenario, she started thinking about other things, like her various trips to the mall as of late. She was going more than usual, and all to get Lana a gift to commemorate her recovery that they all felt was imminent. But of course, she wasn't going to let Lana know since she wanted it to be a surprise…

"So, like, I've been looking around the mall for all the latest deals on clothes. I'm totes gonna get you the best pair of overalls you've ever seen so don't you…" Leni clasped a hand over her mouth when she realized her mistake. She wasn't supposed to know that, "Oops! I wasn't supposed to tell you that! Sorry! It should've been a surprise for you. Oh well. I guess we'll call that your punishment for being naughty. But naughty or not, you're still our sister and we can't wait until you're back on your feet again."

Leni complimented her kind remark with a brief kiss on Lana's cheek, getting up from her seat afterwards to leave the room. As if sensing that Lana would be upset with her exit, before Leni left her behind for the day, she turned back to her and told her, "But don't worry, we'll be back tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and the day after that and the…well, you get the idea. The next time we meet, we'll definitely make sure that Lola comes with us. It's a promise."

With that, Leni walked out of the room, completely missing a familiar but jumbled formation of two syllables coming out of Lana's mouth.

"…ola."

* * *

 **A/N:** So yeah, this finally happened. Took me about a week to finish this but I'm not going to complain. I've been dreading this chapter for a while because besides the length, I figured that everyone who showed up should say their peace regarding Lana, and that meant writing for characters that I've avoided all this time because I knew that I wouldn't do a good job representing their characters well. But you know what they say…actually, no, I don't but at least I can feel proud about the story gaining some traction again. Took me long enough.

And hey, since this was a monster to write, I hereby proclaim this to be my Halloween story for the year. No, I am NOT reaching with that. .


	10. Chapter 10

It was half an hour past eight o'clock when the Loud family returned from the hospital. Unlike the drive there, the trip back home was full of conversation, most of it mirthful and jubilant in nature. Besides Rita, none among them had any real idea about what Lana was going through so seeing that Lana was in the comfort of hospital care, patched up and resting in bed, was definitely a sight for sore eyes and anxious minds that were prepared for the worst. Of course, no one was happy to see Lana in a coma but at least they knew that they could see her tomorrow and the following days afterwards, almost as if she were always there with them, a part of the family that would always be there with them.

The only one to miss out was Lola, whom the returning Louds realized was draped out on the couch, snoring lightly as her slumbering body lethargically leaned against the furthest end of the couch. The television was also still in use. Upon realizing this, everyone was quick to quiet themselves down, both for the sake of Lola's rest and for themselves; a cranky Lola was not a pleasant Lola. Even her mother knew better than to interrupt her sleep unless it was imperative that Lola be woken up.

Most of them went up to their rooms, ready to hit the hay after the long and eventful day that they had anyways. The only person to make a choice to stay downstairs, well after everyone was gone, was Lori. Having to live with twelve other family members meant that leftovers were as scarce as they could come. Seeing as they had four cheese ravioli three days ago for dinner, one of Lori's favorites dishes, she was not going to deprive herself of the chance to help herself to an extra serving. Or two. Or three.

She'd have to have self-control and stop at three. She loved four cheese ravioli but her GI tract had a tendency to disagree with it and the last thing she wanted was Leni having to deal with yet another nighttime of her nocturnal flatulence because of her. Although she was certain Leni had no idea about it, Lori still didn't want to give Leni the hassle. She was a considerable sister, after all.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Lori was done microwaving her leftovers and sat at the kitchen table. She was tempted to eat on the living room couch but decided not to test fate by moving about while Lola was still there. The last thing this family needed were two Louds in the hospital. Before she could plunge her fork into her delicacies, the small patter of bare feet caused her to look up at the person that just walked in on her.

It was none other than Lola, who was rubbing away at one of her eyes while using the other to squint through the bright light of the kitchen to see who was in there.

"That you, Lori?" Lola questioned groggily, stretching back to let out a yawn and scratch at her back.

"The one and only," Lori answered her back, placing her fork down in favor of getting out of her chair. She forgot to get herself something to drink anyways. As she went to the refrigerator to find herself the right beverage, Lola sat in a chair of her own at the kitchen table.

This was the perfect opportunity to get all the details concerning her family's trip to the hospital. Her father didn't prevent her from seeing her tomorrow but she was still rather antsy while she waited for all of them to return. While they were gone, Lola kept herself busy by watching the Princess Channel. It didn't take long, however, for her to start dozing off as soon as almost two hours had passed and none of them had return yet.

Eventually, she had fallen asleep, depriving herself of the chance of an immediate revelation as soon as her family returned. Luckily for her, the sound of Lori's walking about in the kitchen woke her up and now, everything was in place for Lola to hear everything she needed to know. She hadn't realized, however, that Lori was already sitting back down at the table, a glass of grape juice in one hand. She was too engrossed in her thoughts, something that Lori noticed. Lori reached over the table to lightly poke Lola in the head with her finger, earning her a small scowl from her little sister.

"Are you alright?" Lori asked, doing her best not to swoon at the cute way Lola's nose scrunched up on her mildly irritated face. Lola sighed, returning to a neutral disposition, not angry but not elated, either.

"Yeah," Lola responded, now fully aware of her surroundings, specifically at the four cheese ravioli presented before Lori. The wheels in Lola's head began to turn as she began plotting a bit of harmless payback for that head poke.

Putting on a small smirk, she pointed at the food and remarked, "Four cheese ravioli? You're having more? Sheesh, Lori, doesn't that give you the worst farts ever?"

The mortified, flabbergasted look on Lori's face was well worth the jab. Thankfully for Lola, Lori was too focused on being self-conscious than on being vengeful.

"How do you know about that?" Lori asked in a hushed voice, as if there anyone else around that could pick up on their conversation, Well, knowing Lucy, there was a chance she could be in the vents for whatever reason so she supposed that her paranoia wasn't completely unfounded. Lola seemed very eager to answer her, if her smug grin wasn't a telltale sign of that fact.

"Oh please. _Everyone_ knows. Especially Leni. She's just too nice to call you out on it."

So Leni did pick up on her less than flattering habit after all. Despite being slightly embarrassed, Lori couldn't help but commend Leni for her tolerance.

"Yeah," Lori chuckled, realizing just how good she had it with having Leni as a roommate, "That sounds like Leni alright."

Both Lola and Lori laughed in the levity of their situation. Normally, Lori would've retaliated against being put on the spot like this but in light of everything that had been going on lately, any opportunity to laugh was one that needed to be cherished.

Lola, surprisingly, was the first to stop her laughter. She wanted to get to her objective as quickly as possible and couldn't wait any longer.

"How is she?" Lola asked, waiting for Lori to finish her own laughter

"Lana?" Lori inquired, wanting to make sure that Lana was the person of Lola's interest. The nod of Lola's head confirmed her suspicions. "Oh, she's fine. I mean, relatively speaking, of course."

Lori went back to what she wanted to do before Lola had interrupted her and started shoveling forkfuls of her ravioli into her mouth. Lola sat in silence as she thought about Lori's words. She was happy that Lana was doing fine but she needed more than that. When would her sister finally return to them? When would things finally get back to normal? Doctors were supposed to be people that helped figure this stuff out, right? Surely, Lori, the eldest of everyone in the house, besides her parents, had to know something about Lana's recovery

"Do they know when she's…" Lola began to ask but paused when she noticed Lori looking up at her, awaiting for Lola's sentence to be completed. She continued when she realized that she had the floor again.

Do they know when she's waking up?"

Lori swallowed her food and responded with an answer that she knew Lola wouldn't like but the truth was the truth.

"I didn't hear anyone in the ICU talking about her condition so I'm not sure. You'll have to ask Mom and Dad. We were just there to visit Lana. That's all."

"Oh," was Lola's disappointed response. Lori felt awful for her. She knew that she had to be hurting more than everyone, despite her attempts to appear as though she was coping to the changes just fine like she had been doing for the past few days. Lori got up from her seat to walk over to Lola and hug her from behind.

"Hey," Lori reassured lovingly, "Don't sweat it. You can still see her tomorrow. She's not going anywhere."

It was a fact that Lola had known all day but it didn't do much to make her feel better about her twin sister being in intensive care.

"I know but…still, I miss her so much."

Lori's hug only got tighter when she felt like Lola would start crying. Truth be told, she couldn't blame her. She had nearly start bawling her eyes out the first time she saw Lana since she wheeled out on a gurney. Divulging her with one of her deepest fears didn't help matters, either.

"I know. It's okay. She'll get through this. I swear it," Lori firmly insisted, now more sure than ever. The first time she told Lola that Lana would recover, there was uncertainty, just the slightest hint of doubt that made her words feel saccharine and hollow. Now, any doubt about Lana's restoration were out the window. She saw it. They had all seen it; Lana just a foot through the door and back into consciousness. And soon, she knew that Lola would see it for herself and be relieved.

Getting out of her hug, but not harshly, Lola got up off her chair in order to stand before Lori and look her in the eye.

"Hey, Lori?" Lola posed almost timidly. Lori was taken aback at her diffidence but not enough to not answer her back with open arms.

"What's up?" Lori replied. She had enough wisdom, forged by years of living with her sisters, to know the signature signs of them asking for something that they knew that they'd never be able to have under normal circumstances.

Fidgeting, wandering eyes, slightly flushed cheeks, nervous shirt wringing. Lola was currently checking of all of those boxes.

"Is it okay if I…if I…" Lola started to ask but found her courage waning by the second and promptly swallowed her words back in her brain. How could she be so stupid? There was no way that Lori would ever do…that for her. She hadn't let anyone sleep in her bed for a long time and everyone just learned to accept that. But without Lana, that meant that Lola would have yet another night in her room alone. It was beginning to work on her nerves. She missed having company and seeing as how Lori was right there, it only felt necessary to give it a shot and just ask her.

She looked back up Lori, only to find that she was in no way impatient or agitated.

"Tell me, Lola. You don't have to be afraid," Lori promised. She guessed that in her state of mind, Lola wouldn't be looking for trouble and that it was okay to allow Lola to voice her request.

Nodding, Lola finally got out her plea, albeit unsteadily and unfocused but just enough for Lori to decipher every word.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Lori would've answered her immediately had it not been for Lola adding an addendum to her query, as if she wanted to justify herself.

"It's just that…every time I go in my room and Lana's not there…"

"It's okay. I get it. You're still not used to being by yourself, is that it?" Lori guessed, smiling when Lola nodded to confirm her correct deduction. Looking back at her food, Lori went back down to sit before her ravioli and called out to Lola.

"Well, whenever you're ready to get to bed, I'll be sure to join you in my room. The TV's yours for tonight. I'll let the others know about it so you don't have to worry about sharing unless you really want to. I might not have to worry, though, since most of them are probably asleep by now anyways."

She got back to digging in, slightly miffed by the fact that her marinated, cheesy dumplings had cooled down but paid no mind as she chowed down and reveled in the tantalizing taste.

"Thank you," Lola expressed in complete gratitude, going back to the living room to catch about another hour of TV before she would go to bed.

She just hoped that Lori would consider the fact that she would be having a guest in her bed for the evening and ease up on the ravioli intake.

 **A/N:** Fart jokes. Aren't I mature? :D But hey, anything to break up the tension and restore a little bit of light-hearted goodness into the story for a change, especially considering all of the melodramatic Lola chapters I've written. I hope no one's disappointed by the fact that this chapter's about a third in length of the last one. Seriously, I had no idea it would ever get that long.


	11. Chapter 11

Nurses Chloe Tully and Carmen Jackson were no strangers to early morning shifts at Royal Woods General but in Carmen's case, she couldn't be any more anxious. They were both called in to take care of one of the patients still administered in the ICU that Tuesday morning, someone who after about four days of remaining there, was well-known to most of the staff by now, especially after her huge family came by to visit her yesterday.

But it wasn't that reason that made the scraggly blonde's trip to Lana Loud's room somewhat nerve-wracking for her. This was her third time going in to treat her comatose state but she felt as though despite being on staff for only about two months, she was already being thrown to the wolves by dealing with a six-year-old in a coma. The job itself was never difficult; preventing pressure ulcers was as easy as simply moving the patient onto their side after all.

But no matter how many times Carmen told herself to commit to the contrary, she couldn't resist the urge to look down at Lana and compare her to…to _her_.

Before long, both nurses were in front of Room 113 and entered with Carmen following behind Chloe. Immediately, Carmen's heartstrings were tugged when she saw Lana's still body connected to the machines that were recorded her stable vitals. Instead of heading towards her like Chloe did, she stood frozen in place as she looked across the room at Lana with forlorn.

"Hey," called Chloe to her taller coworker, having taken notice of Carmen's absence from her side. The woman in question shot up when she heard her voice through her stupor and turned to face Chloe, somewhat embarrassed about being caught staring.

"Huh?" Carmen replied before looking over at Chloe, "You say something?"

Chloe walked over to her and stood in front of her, arms folded.

"I was trying to get your attention. You were spacing out for a second there."

Carmen said nothing in response and looked away at the corner of the room guiltily. She looked back at Chloe when she felt her hand on her shoulder. To her relief, Chloe wasn't staring back at her with malice or contempt but with empathy to the dilemma she was currently facing.

"It's the girl, isn't it?" Chloe asks, already knowing the answer but did so out of formality. Being on staff for almost ten years forged resistance within Chloe when dealing with critical cases like Lana's, ensuring that she do her job with composure and professionalism after countlessly seeing some of the worst injuries anyone could treat.

Carmen, on the other hand, was someone who was fresh out of nursing school and despite her brightness, still needed to shadow her for her own sake. Chloe figured she still needed to adjust from studious textbook reading and sleepless nights to real world involvement and even longer sleepless night, something she could relate to when she first started working there.

When Carmen didn't say anything to Chloe's question, she over at Lana and shook her head.

"Only six years old and she goes through something like this. A damn shame if I ever saw one."

Carmen finally spoke up, albeit timidly as she was still afraid of being reprimanded for sidetracking them both from doing their jobs.

"I know what you mean. Nursing schools can't prep you for seeing something so…so…"

"Unfair?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we're on the clock so we better get to it. Pressure ulcers don't get prevented by themselves."

With that, both nurses walked over to Lana and stood on either side of her. Taking the initiative, Chloe was the first to act, grabbing Lana by the side and slowly turning her over to her side, making sure that her IV drip wouldn't be pulled out from her wrist in the process.

Meanwhile, Carmen took one of pillows from underneath Lana's head and placed it against her back. As they did this, they both stopped when they heard Lana mumbling and grumbling, almost as if she was being woken up from a nap and didn't want to get up. Both women knew this wasn't the case but despite that, Chloe talked to Lana as if she was still completely conscious.

"Ssssssshhhh, it's okay. We're just here to help. Just relax and let us do our job, darling."

While Lana was still held in place, Carmen grabbed another pillow in one of the cabinets next to Lana's bed and shifted it to nestle between her legs. With that out of the way, Chloe slowly brought Lana back down on her back, ensuring that both pillows were snugly keeping her appendages from compressing against the bed.

"Alright, that oughta do it for now," Chloe stated. She turned over to Carmen and brightly suggested, "We best get to the break room while they still have cheese danishes and hot coffee. Daria can wolf them down the best of 'em but don't tell her I said that."

Carmen, who was looming over Lana now with the same look as before, didn't even bother turning her head when she replied, "You go on ahead. I'll be right behind you."

Chloe shrugged and left her behind almost instantly. Carmen sighed and reached down into her scrub to pull out the silver heart-shaped locket that she kept hidden underneath. Flicking it open, she almost choked up when she looked over at the picture she had committed to memory.

There she was, in front of her house that was only about a fifteen minute drive away, sitting on the front step, with a little blonde girl sitting on top of her knee and smiling in the direction of the camera that had taken that picture. Carmen looked from Lana to the little girl in the locket and snapped it shut when she felt the sting of tears burning her eyes. She stuffed it back down her scrub and stood up to walk out of Lana's room, brushing away at the few tears that had fallen and clung to her cheeks.

' _Not again. Dear God in heaven, don't do this to me again.'_

* * *

 _Ten hours later…_

"What's the deal, Lori? Where are you taking me? And why can't anyone else know where we're going? Plus, how come you have the car if Mom and Dad are at work right now?" Lola asked Lori when she entered Vanzilla and buckled herself in the backseat, waiting for Lori to answer for this mysterious meeting she put together.

As soon as school was over for her, Lola had been walking side by side with Lucy as they both headed towards the auditorium to wait for the buses to get them home. As they did so, Lola's phone buzzed in her dress pocket, prompting her to look at who had just texted her.

It was Lori, who asked her to wait for her at the parking lot instead of heading home for the bus. Her text also expressed her desire to have their little meeting be kept secret from her siblings so Lola excused herself from Lucy's company with the excuse that she had to stay behind for a talk with her teacher.

She didn't have to wait long for Lori to show up, arriving at her promised destination only a few minutes after 3'o clock when her school day had ended.

Presently, Lori was adjusting the rear-view mirror so that she could look at Lola without having to turn around constantly.

"Technically, that's not entirely true. Mom and Dad know where I'm taking you so you don't have to worry about getting in trouble with them. Everyone else, though? Best they not know. As for the van, I got the okay from Mom and Dad to swing by Mom's workplace and pick up the van to pick you up," Lori explained but noticed that Lola's glare hadn't shifted a bit.

"You still haven't answered why I'm here," Lola stated dryly.

"I was getting to that, thank you very much," Lori bit back with an edge of impatience in her voice.

A pregnant pause of silence emanated from out of thin air as Lori began to pull out from the parking lot and leave school grounds. Lola realized that Lori was going in the complete opposite direction of home, meaning that wherever Lori was taking her was somewhere out in the heart of town.

"I'm taking you to see Lana," Lori indulged Lola, whose eyes shot open at what she thought she heard Lori just said.

She knew she wasn't hearing things but out of everything she could've predicted, this was the last thing on the list by far.

"What? Y-you mean now?" Lola squeaked.

"Yep. I figured since you missed out yesterday, I take you there before everyone else today. Knowing you, you were probably too busy being antsy to pay much attention during class, right?"

"Nooooo!" Lola protested with indignation out of reflex.

Another pregnant pause left the situation awkward for Lola as she knew Lori was right and knew that Lori was just waiting for her to admit it, too.

"Okay…maybe just a teeny bit," Lola confessed with a sheepish grin.

"Thought so," Lori smugly proclaimed with a self-satisfied smile. "Anyways, the reason I didn't want anyone else to catch wind of this is because I wanted to make sure you got to see her with a proper one-on-one without anyone else showing up to eat up your time. We were all on the clock yesterday but in your case, you deserve special treatment. You'll have plenty of time to get whatever you need to off your chest."

So that had been the deal all along. Lori had set this entire thing up just for her.

Despite her gratitude, all she could say in response was a rather meek, "Oh."

"'Oh'? You get this VIP treatment and that's all you have to say? Not 'Thank you Lori for being the best big sister in the entire universe!'? This was literally my idea, y'know," Lori waxed with faux umbrage.

Lola clearly didn't get the message and bowed her head in shame. Lori noticed and stifled a laugh.

"I'm kidding, Lola. But seriously, why aren't you more excited? I mean, I know I sort of dropped this on you out of nowhere and all but I didn't expect you to be so…somber."

She regretted the last word as soon as it slipped out of her mouth. It should've been obvious to her Lola would be somber at a time like this. Despite everyone trying to return to a chipper attitude with Lana's demise in mind, she wouldn't put it past anyone to still walk about with huge emotional baggage on their back and letting it show on their faces.

Lola, thankfully, didn't criticize her lack of tact.

"That's the thing, though, Lori," Lola said sadly, "Should I be excited for something like this? I mean, Lana hasn't been home in nearly a week. I get why we're all doing this and all but now that I finally get to see Lana, I don't have any idea what I should tell her, especially since I'm going to have all this time to myself."

Lola's words brought back Lori to yesterday when she was the first to see Lana but suddenly became nervous when she finally confronted her.

Once they stopped at a red light, Lori turned around to Lola so that she could see her face.

"I understand. It feels like you're being put on the spot to say the right thing but you don't know exactly what the "right thing" is, right?"

Lola nodded, causing Lori's smile to get even wider. She loved having a big sister's intuition.

"Well, forget about the 'right thing'. In a situation like this, there's no such thing. I learned that when I entered Lana's hospital room and saw her in bed for the first time. I mean, why should anyone fault you for not having some flowery sermon all prepped up in your head? If all you want to say is 'I miss you and wish you a speedy recovery', that's all you need to say. Simple as that."

Lori turned back around to face the traffic light and waited for it to turn green. She looked up at the rear-view mirror and was happy that Lola seemed to be at ease, at least for a little bit.

Speaking of putting Lola at ease, she remembered carrying Lola to her own bed like Lola had wanted and sleeping with her shortly afterwards.

Her cheeks flared when she recalled Lola's ravioli banter from last night.

"By the way," Lori called to Lola bashfully, "About last night, I was a…courteous host, right? Like, you didn't have any problems because of my tendency to…well…you know."

Lola chuckled when she picked up where Lori was going with this. Truthfully, she had gotten the best sleep she had in a long time, even when Lana wasn't all banged and bruised in the ICU.

"You were fine. Don't worry. Thanks, Lori."

"Good answer. We'll be getting ice cream afterwards just because of your choice of words."

Lola was going to respond back to what she had in mind for her waffle cone but then a horrible thought struck her.

"Wait a second!" Lola panicked.

Lori nearly veered off the road at Lola's scared outburst.

"What?! What's wrong?!" Lori inquired with alarm.

"If Mom and Dad are at work and you're with me…who's gonna be watching everyone while we're gone?! Don't tell me that Leni…"

Lori sighed in relief. Was that all she was worried about? Thanks to her parent's arrangements, she had the whole situation covered already.

"Oh, don't worry. Mom and Dad learned their lesson from the last time they left Leni in charge of keeping the house in order when I wasn't there," Lori clarified. "Mr. Grouse will keep an eye out for trouble while we're away."

Lola wiped sweat from her brow and reclined in her seat in solace.

"Phew. What a relief."

She did not want to come back home with half of it burned down again. Who knew Leni could do all of that with a hair dryer and a match? Not even Lisa could get to the bottom of it.

* * *

Lola felt butterflies fluttering within her as she looked on at Lori speaking with the receptionist of Royal Woods General just a few feet away from her seat. She knew that she wouldn't be judged for what she was going to say and she knew she's had a lot of time to think but regardless, it was still a lot to sink in.

As if she suddenly appeared to her out of thin air, Lola jumped a bit in her chair when Lori was standing before her.

"Alright, so I just checked in with the receptionist and they say we can see her right away," Lori confirmed with a bright grin on her face. "You ready?"

"Uh huh," Lola answered back non-committedly, not really paying that much attention. Once she got up, she felt as if her built-up nervousness amplified and out of instinct, she reached forward and grabbed Lori by the hand without thinking.

Lori looked back down in awe. Lola rarely held hands with anyone other than her parents or Lana. The poor girl must've been scared out of her wits. She smoothed her thumb over her hand in a soothing motion as they headed to Room 113.

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination but for Lola, the walk their felt like an eternity. It reminded her of the times she knew she was in trouble with her parents and somberly walked to their room to face punishment.

She looked up at the door and made a move to go in but her hand froze on the cold metal of the doorknob. She looked back up at Lori, who was smiling down upon her.

"Whenever you're good to go," Lori ensured motherly.

Lola nodded and decided to just get on with it, realizing that wasting time outside wasn't going to accomplish anything. She let go of Lori and opened the door at long last, keeping her eyes closed the entire time. She stepped inside and once that was done, Lori closed the door behind her.

Besides some beeping, the room was completely silent. Lola still had her eyes shut to brace herself for what she knew would await her. Slowly, she began to crack her eyes open, wincing slightly at the pain of the bright light of the room seeping into her pupils.

Once they were open, Lola flew her hand over her mouth to muffle her gasp. Lori had warned her earlier not to make too much noise and disturb everyone working there, much like her mother had warned her yesterday. Still, she couldn't help but be shocked and distressed at the state her sister was in. She was sued to seeing her sisters patched up with a broken arm or leg from roughhousing but thanks to the nasal splint on Lana, along with the stitches across her forehead, to Lola, she looked almost unrecognizable to the cheery, elated face that Lana would often wear.

Slowly, she crossed the room to Lana's bed but made no motion to say or do much of anything else as she looked at her from above.

"L-Lana?" she finally spoke, reaching out to hold her hand securely…

…and took it back instantly when the beeping on Lana's EKG machine started to pick up. Lola looked over at the spiking lines on the screen, not knowing exactly what they meant but knew right away that things were going terribly wrong.

She looked back at Lola and screamed in horror as Lana's body began violently convulsing and seizing out of control, nearly sending her over the side rails of her bed and onto the floor.

" _ **LANA!**_ "

 **A/N:** Ah, the good 'ol heart locket cliché. Can't have a medical drama without one of those, I always say. By the way, if you want to know how burning down half an entire house with a hair dryer and a match is plausible, let's not forget that you're reading a story based on a cartoon about a family of eleven kids, where the only boy just so happens to be the middle child AND the only one with white hair. I think leaps in plausibility are allowed to happen every now and then. ;)


	12. Chapter 12

Everything seemed to happen at once.

Once the screams of Lola echoed out of the room, Lori burst through immediately, flinging the door open without restraint and smashing it into the wall. She was at Lola's side in a hurry but before she could ask her what her screaming was about, the sounds of a cavalcade of footsteps immediately cut her off. Within seconds, a team of doctors and nurses flooded the room, hurriedly escorting Lola and Lori out and shutting the door behind them.

Lola wasn't one to be pushed aside so easily, especially at the expense of seeing Lana through whatever sporadic ailment just befell her mere seconds ago. Without hesitation or a moment's contemplation, Lola made a beeline for the door, pounding it harshly and loudly enough to drown out a busy construction site.

Before she could go through with more noise making, she was promptly picked off the ground by a familiar pair of arms, ones that held her around her waist firmly and weren't interested in letting her have her way while the medical team dealt with Lana. Lola's kicking and squealing came to an end when Lori turned her around so that they were looking at each other face to face. Both their expression mirrored the other; noses scrunched, frowns firmly etched, and eyebrows knitted in disapproval. They paid no mind to the mobile patients that looked on from afar at the spectacle. From either side of the hallway.

Have you literally lost your mind?!" Lori whispered discordantly. "We're in a hospital! You can't just go around yelling at the top of your lungs just because-"

"That's my sister in there!" Lola retorted, not caring to keep her voice down at all.

Lori was wary to the implication of Lola's response. Who was she, or anyone, to act like she didn't care for Lana? Instead of having quality time with Bobby or hanging out with friends right now, she was making sure that Lola didn't feel left out by giving her special treatment and after all of that, this was the thanks she was going to get?

Not while she had a pair of working lungs and windpipe to bring Lola down to Earth, which were now working at the same capacity as Lola's to harshly fire back at her with scathing words of her own,

"She's my sister too, you know! That doesn't mean I have the right to go around and make a scene just because something happens that I don't like!"

If Lola recoiled out of shock, it must've been ever so slightly because Lori didn't see anything resembling remorse or regret out of Lola with that one. Instead, she saw her ire rivaling that of an erupt volcano.

"'She's my sister, too?'" Lola delivered with only a tinge of sarcasm. "You could've fooled me with that attitude! If you cared about Lana, you'd be trying to help me instead of trying to act like my Mom!"

That did it for Lori. If Lola was going to start pulling in cheap shots, she was going to do the same and not feel an ounce of pity for any hurt feelings.

"I care enough for her to not make it hard for the doctors to do their jobs, unlike a certain spoiled little idiot of a sister of mine who doesn't know when to shut up!"

Before the situation could escalate any further, the door to Lana's room swung open and one of the nurses emerged from the other side. Both sisters timidly turned to her once they realized what they had been doings and inwardly winced at the disapproval she had on her face. She didn't look all the imposing, with her being somewhat stocky and short, but her scowl was enough to both of theirs to shame.

"Actually, I take it that neither of you know when to shut up," the nurse finally says dryly. Despite their foul-up, she seemed more ticked off than enraged. Lori supposed it was because she had to keep an air of authority about her and not dive into hysterics.

Lori slowly but surely lets Lola back down on the floor, not taking her eyes off the nurse that was staring them down as she did so.

"In case you forgot, this is a hospital, not your living room. You wanna scream your heads off at each other? Fine by me but not out here. Now then, are you going to keep it down or will I have to get you both thrown out of here by security?"

"No Nurse…" Lori briefly looks down at the woman's bosom to her nametag to get her name so she could address her properly, "…Chloe. We won't let it happen again."

"Good. I hope you do for your sake and for her sake," Nurse Chloe jabs a thumb backwards to the room she stepped out of. Wasting no further time, she shuts the door behind her.

Once the door was shut, Lola made a beeline to the only chair that was outside of the room, effectively making it so Lori would either stand, hopefully in discomfort, or walk away and find a new chair to sit in.

Lori didn't need anyone to read Lola's thoughts for her. Her message was roundly received and she had no intentions on making up with someone who had the gall to be so selfish. Besides, she figured she'd come groveling to her to apologize once she realized that she was acting out.

Without giving her a passing glance, Lori stood a few feet away from Lola, leaning against the wall, folding her arms, and awaited an update on Lana in silence.

* * *

"A seizure?" Lori asked in bewilderment to the doctor who finally approached her after nearly thirty minutes of waiting around for answers. He was apparently the same one who was looking after Lana ever since she was admitted in, which to Lori, made enough sense given how much he seemed to know about her already once they started talking to each other.

Despite their animosity towards one another, Lola got up from her chair to standby Lori as he indulged them with details.

The elderly physician, Dr. Sampson, confirmed her question with a brisk nod.

"Correct. Luckily, although it was tonic-clonic in nature, it was relatively mild. We didn't need to do anything intrusive to keep it at bay. They're not completely uncommon for comatose patients, although such an occurrence does deter me from leaning entirely on a smooth transition to a full recovery like I once thought.

Therefore, I'm having Lana undergo another CT scan to detect any sort of abnormalities that could've led to this avenue. Afterwards, I'll have to keep her more closely monitored to ensure that this was nothing more than an isolated incident and not a symptom of an underlying yet fatal ailment that we've yet to discover.

In the meantime, I've already contacted your parents to all of this as well as the fact that until these procedures are done, we'll have any visits to her be off-limits."

Lola didn't even try to mask her disappointment, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists in frustration. It took everything in her being not to lash out and wreak havoc at the prospect of being denied being in her sister's company after only seeing her for but a few short seconds but she reined in her fury when she recalled just how close everyone in her family would miss out because of her and Lori.

Well, mostly Lori, anyways.

She was snapped out of her repression when she heard the doctor's professional tone take a stern edge to it.

"I've also informed them of your more than irresponsible outburst today and that a repeated incident like that will be dealt with swiftly, which, believe me, will involve much more than not being allowed to visit her. I know I already had Nurse Chloe put you through the ringer but I want to establish how imperative it is for this hospital to be ran efficiently. Now then, if there's nothing else you need from me, I'd like to get started with Lana's scanning straightaway so I know where to go from there."

"No, sir. We'll be leaving now. Thank you," Lori responded meekly, leaving Dr. Sampson behind as she walked towards the parking lot, making sure that Lola was following alongside her.

As she looked down at her, Lori began to feel her resolve to stay angry at Lola melt away. Although it still looked like Lola was mad at her, even though Lori was certain that she was in the wrong, she was still Lana's sister and the closest one to her out of anyone she knew.

And the opportunity to connect with her was cruelly ripped from her, as if the universe found it amusing to taunt the plight of a little girl who was emotionally distressed.

She couldn't stay mad at that. Her pride would have to go to the wayside if it meant that Lola could feel better about herself after everything she had to endure.

When they finally reached the van, she was met with a less than endearing remark from her disgruntled sister.

"Nice going, Lori," Lola bitterly remarked as she opened the back door and slid into her seat in a huff.

It wasn't exactly how she wanted to start talking to her sister again but if anything, she was glad that a conversation was initiated.

Now, all that was left to do was get to the root of the matter and Lori figured the best way to start was to get right to the point.

"What're you talking about now, Lola?" she replies almost sardonically as she gets to the driver's seat and slides the key into the ignition.

She looks up at the rear view mirror and finds that Lola's apparently too disgusted with her to even look at the reflection, deciding to look out the window instead.

"This is all your fault, you know," Lola answers just as lifelessly as before.

Lori bit back a sharp remark, remembering her promise to try and resolve the tension rather than escalate it. It was becoming a challenge when it seemed like Lola was trying to provoke her by condescendingly acting like she was in the know about Lori's "fault" in their dilemma, thus having Lori appear foolish by not knowing herself.

She drove out of the parking lot and went back to their conversation when she got on the road to start heading for home in order to drop Lola off and return the van to the dentistry for her mother.

"You may hate me right now, but at least give me credit where credit is due since when I'm angry about something that someone did, I let them know what it is that they did wrong."

"I shouldn't have to tell you. If you're so smart, you figure it out, genius."

That did it. Lola wasn't in the mood to act mature so why should she? What had that gotten her today besides getting in trouble? Besides, her parents were going to chew them out when they got home anyways so she might as well get in a few licks of her own.

It may not have been "right" to do so but Lori felt she was being more than fair by giving Lola, someone who should've known better, a platform to air out of her grievances. Yet her gracious gesture was only met with malice and back talk.

She would have none of it.

"Actually, I'm not smart. I realized that today when I saw that even with poor Lana going through a friggin' coma, you still want to make everything about yourself. I should've known better than to think you'd ever change."

She patted herself on the back when she looked up in the rear view mirror and saw Lola looking at it now, almost like she was trying to bore holes into it with her focused anger.

Ordinarily, even Lori would have a healthy fear of Lola's ire but if it meant breaking through her façade of indifference to poke and needle her where it hurt, she wasn't going to back down.

"How dare you! You don't get to pull that on me after what you put me through!" Lola shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Lori.

The accused was not above yelling back and Lori did so eagerly.

"As in what?! Making you behave in a hospital, something that the others and I managed to do just fine yesterday?! Since when do you become the exception to the rule?!"

"Since when do you get to act so full of yourself?!"

"Huh?! Me?! ME?! You're telling ME that I'M full of myself?! Says the girl who can't leave her room if anything about her little princess ensemble is out of line! And speaking of being out of line, thanks to your behavior, Mom and Dad are gonna chew me out when we get home, despite the fact that this is all your fault!"

"Well, it's not my fault! And even if it were, why do you care?! Just lie to them, Lori! Just lie like you always do! Last I checked, you're pretty good at it!"

Before Lori could retort with another scathing diatribe of her own, she quickly replayed Lola's words in her head over and over, trying to understand how she got on the "You're a liar!" bandwagon.

Was she posturing, simply wanting something to say despite having nothing of substance to counter her? Truthfully, Lori told more than her fair share of lies over the years and it was probably true that she might have told more fibs than any of her siblings.

But how exactly did the business of lying even venture into their situation? It didn't make any sense given the context and she knew Lola wasn't going to bother enlightening her even if she politely asked her.

She felt a headache coming on just trying to wrap her head around it and decided not to bother getting into it with Lola over that subject. She was going to have plenty on her plate to deal with when they got home anyways.

"You know what? Why am I even wasting my breath on you? You're not worth it," Lori denounces as she looked towards the road more sharply than ever, determined not to look back at Lola.

It doesn't work nearly well enough to drown out what Lola had to say next, even if she said it somewhat under her breath.

"Fine by me. Save as much breath as you can to lie to them like the coward you are."

* * *

To Lori's surprise, when she and Lola walked in to the house, both of her parents were already home, waiting for them on the couch, with their siblings sitting around them. Apparently, they both took the day off early when Dr. Sampson had informed them both of what happened with Lana.

As Lori thought, she and Lola were both grounded for what they did in the hospital and sent to their respective rooms. Any attempts to shift the blame to the other were immediately shut down and both sisters marched upstairs without another word, refusing to make eye contact with each other.

After that, Rita and Lynn Sr. went to go start making dinner but the unpunished children were in no mood to return to their activities with the same bombastic approach before their parents had informed them on Lana's seizure, as well as their inability to see her for at least a few days.

For one Lisa Marie Loud, however, it also meant that she had to finally put all of her doubts, she had been having about her plan, to rest and start getting to work as soon as she could.

It might have presented risks but choosing to let nature take its course clearly wasn't getting anywhere. Looking around to make sure she wasn't being followed, she hurried up the stairs and zipped into her room, closing the door behind her and locking it.

She walked towards her bed and reached underneath it to extract a rolled-up sheet of blue paper held together by a rubber band. She unraveled it, tossing the rubber band over her shoulder and unshrouding the paper on her bed, as well as the contents of it to her eyes.

"Well, Lisa, if Robert Heinlein was correct, then this should no longer be theoretically impossible once I jump the reverie from forgivable trepidation to action. I just hope the chances of catastrophe are also theoretically impossible. Hang in there, Lana. Help is on the way. I just hope this doesn't backfire."

 **A/N:** To the few fans I have that read this story, my apologies about the wait on this chapter. In case you haven't noticed, I tend to try and upload at least one chapter of S&T a week but between flying all the way to Texas to celebrate my brother's wedding and then dealing with four wisdom teeth getting pulled out as soon as I come home, I wasn't in much of a mood to write anything. I STILL can't eat anything solid for at least another day and for a while, I felt groggy and exhausted half the time that I was awake.

There? Have I tugged at your heartstrings enough for you to not give me a hard time? No? Oh well. You win some, you lose some. :'(


	13. Chapter 13

Lisa yawned loudly as she leaned back in her chair at her workbench, surveying the tools scattered about in front of her, as well as the blueprints sprawled out in plain view. Besides Lily, who was snoozing the night away in her crib, sleep that Lisa was careful not to interrupt by working as quietly as possible, no one else had come anywhere close to being in close vicinity of the experiment she was putting together.

Another day at "the office" bore great results for the girl genius. Her secret project, to help Lana, was practically finished. The entirety of her day was spent isolated in her room, save for having to go to school in the morning, using the bathroom, or eating dinner with her family. Said family, to Lisa's content, weren't particularly interested in what she was doing all day and Lisa couldn't be anymore grateful for that if she tried.

She was usually open to what it was her brain and ambition wanted to create but not this time. It was imperative to her that no one else catch wind on what she was up to. Telling them that she planned to fix Lana's brain from the inside would only create inner turmoil as she was sure that one faction of the family would support her while the other would vehemently disagree, thus creating more dissension than what Lori and Lola were already doing with each other nowadays.

And besides that, there was yet another reason that Lisa couldn't tell anyone what it was she had in store.

Despite coming a long way with her plan, making it all the way to the end in a little less than a day, even she didn't know if she was going to go through with it when it was all said and done.

Lisa looked up at the overhead lamp, that was beaming down light for her to see what she was doing, and turned it off, casting almost complete darkness in the room except for the little corner of light on Lily's side of the room, thanks to the clown head nightlight that was turned on. She sighed melancholily as she rolled up her blueprints and carried it under the bed to stuff underneath.

Once she set her glasses aside on her nightstand, she flung herself into bed and groaned in her pillow, not even bothering to swap into her pajamas. She was far too tired and for good reason. It was a few minutes past one in the morning, meaning that after she was done eating dinner at around seven, she had spent the last six hours finishing up her project, not once needing to use the bathroom the whole time. Even with the allure of her bed tugging at her, she still couldn't lull off to sleep. She had far too much to think about.

Though she didn't have much experience to look back on, Lisa was sure that she had never approached any scientific endeavor with doubt and uncertainty before. She was brilliant and she knew it. It could be called overconfidence or even arrogance but Lisa always felt as though the mysteries of the universe were only mysteries because someone like her wasn't around to unravel them, a testament to how she thought of herself and how self-assured she was of her brilliance.

But like any sensible scientist, Lisa always had to consider the ramifications of her actions, both the positives and the negatives. As far as she was concerned, there were no negatives to her plan if it succeeded. No drawbacks, no side effects. But she knew that she had to succeed first. What she wanted to do involved the brain, a complex yet fragile piece of the human anatomy. Lisa knew that if even one slight miscalculation occurred, whether it was in her control or not, Lana would…

Lisa hastily grabbed her comforter and flung it over her head, gritting her teeth and shutting her eyes as she willed for the horrible images flashing in her head to stop: images of the EKG hooked up to Lana showcasing a flatline, her family surrounding her hospital bed with tears in their eyes. Images of them all of them glaring daggers at her while they proclaimed their disgust and contempt of her existence.

She shook her head again, whimpering all the while as she begged for her tired mind to shut down and fall asleep. Without the thrill and exhilaration of the inventing to distract her from the horrifying possibilities that plagued her for but a few times throughout the day, Lisa was left helpless to the anxiety that was gnawing away at her conscience.

What if she failed? What if her meddling only made things worse? How would she live with herself knowing that she was responsible for taking Lana's life, whether she meant to do it or not? How would her family move on with the knowledge that their daughter was killed because of one of their own?

' _Have all my efforts been in vain?_ ' Lisa pondered sadly as she tossed her blanket aside in frustration, curling up in a ball and looking at the wall closest to the bed. As she did so, she did her best to batter away at the demons that she brought against herself, thinking back to the last time she saw Lana and the promise she made to her to use her mind to help her recover should any complications get in the way.

That seizure that she had heard about from her parents yesterday felt like a call to action for Lisa to do what many would call reckless but for Lana…for Lana she knew that she had to try and forge on ahead.

' _No! This must be accomplished! I'll just make sure that my assistants are in working order first thing after I wake up. I must not allow trepidation to deprive Lana of recuperating,'_ Lisa firmly proclaimed, determined not to let her doubt consume her.

To help herself fall asleep, Lisa did what she would usually do, converting random temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa in her head, even throwing Kelvin in the mix every now and then. It started to pay off as Lisa found peace within herself and her concern beginning to melt away…

At least, for the time being.

* * *

 _That evening..._

Lynn headed up the stairs with her marching orders, musing over what had caused her to be in this position in the first place. She and her siblings had been called to dinner about ten minutes ago and everyone showed up except for Lisa. Therefore, her mother had sent her upstairs to go inform her that dinner was ready.

Lynn wasn't sure if anyone else noticed but she was slightly perturbed by Lisa's behavior as of late. Everyone was concerned about Lana's well-being, especially after they had heard the news about her seizure two days ago and not being allowed to visit her, at least for the time being, also didn't help their moods.

But to Lynn, Lisa was different. She seemed more distant than usual. Lisa was never one to fraternize about with anyone, even her own family, but her seclusion was slightly concerning to her. Now that she really thought about it, she barely saw Lisa at all for the past two days. Being the most active Loud in the family meant that she moved about quite a bit, running into everyone at least once. But outside of the times that Lisa had to make her presence known, like going to school, they had only crossed paths once and that was yesterday when Lisa was going to the bathroom.

In no time at all, Lynn found herself in front of Lisa's room. She opened the door in front of her and as she predicted, found Lisa huddling over her workbench, tiny sparks flying across the room and the tiniest bit of whirring piercing her ears.

"Lisa?" called Lynn to Lisa, supplementing her attempt to get Lisa to look at her with a slight knocking on the door.

The diminutive scientist gave no immediate reply, far too engrossed in her work to pay any attention to her surroundings.

"Liiiiiiisa?"

When she was once again ignored, Lynn knew she'd have to resort to more drastic measures, measures that she knew might literally implode in her face since there was a chance that Lisa was fiddling about with something explosive in nature.

"HEY, LISA?!"

Lisa yelped as her instruments flew out of her hand, landing on either side of her as she fell out the stool she was standing on, landing squarely on her butt. Normally, Lisa would be beyond peeved with anyone interfering with her work but in this case, she was too busy being terrified.

' _Shoot! I forgot to lock the door! Confound it, Lisa!_ ' she berated to herself as she turned to face Lynn, doing her best to mask her panic with indifference. It seemed to work perfectly.

"Sheesh, brainiac. Would it kill you to put the Bunsen burner down for half a second? I was trying to get your attention 'cause Mom and Dad wanted me to let you know that it's time for dinner."

That was all? Lisa didn't find that to be much of an issue. Truth be told, with all the work she felt that she had to do, she wasn't feeling all that hungry anyways. She'd go grab a quick bite to eat after everyone had left the dinner table, ensuring that no one would run into her and ask questions while she did so.

Lisa got up, brushing at her pants and wincing at the pain in her bottom as she climbed back on her stool, facing away from Lynn while she did so.

"Could you please inform our parents that I'm preoccupied with a very delicate experiment that cannot be ceased for nourishment?" she asked, hoping that Lynn would take the bait and go away.

Lynn leaned against the doorway and frowned slightly. She was hoping that she'd get to see more of Lisa but she understood her need for the privacy that she wanted.

"Okay. Suit yourself but don't blame me if there aren't any tacos left for you," Lynn said and turned on her heel to leave. When she was sure that Lynn had left, Lisa looked under her microscope and zoomed in at the machines that she had painstakingly assembled yesterday. To her relief, nothing appeared to be broken or compromised in any way.

"Phew. That was close," Lisa remarked.

"What was close?" asked Lynn, who was standing right behind her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Once again, Lisa toppled off the stool but because of Lynn being close by, she managed to grab her before she could hit the ground.

Lisa, though grateful for Lynn's quick thinking, was completely flabbergasted; not just at Lynn for pulling a Lucy and showing up right behind her without her noticing but for her own lack of foresight.

Not only had she forgotten to lock her door but she was too frazzled to remember to close it!

She felt herself being turned around until she was facing Lynn, whom despite nearly sending her little sister careening to the floor for a second time in the span of a minute, looked as cheerful as ever. If anything, that got Lisa a bit miffed.

"Lynn, what do you think you're doing?! Haven't I painstakingly informed you _not_ to perforate my focus when I'm engrossed in the assembly of my contrivances?!"

Lynn placed her on the floor and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as she apologized, "Oh yeah. Sorry 'bout that, bookworm."

Lisa scoffed at the overused nickname for her and got back to the matter at hand, getting to the bottom of why Lynn had decided to show back up in her room to begin with.

"And just what _are_ you doing here, anyways?" Lisa asked with folded arms and a raised eyebrow. "I thought you'd be scarfing down tacos at an inhumanly expedient rate by now, no doubt fostering imminent gastrointestinal disasters that I'm certain we'll all appreciate."

Admittedly, Lynn knew that Lisa had a point but at the last second, Lynn remembered that she was curious about Lisa's activities lately and decided to quietly go back and observe her. Besides that, from the doorway, she spotted a picture hanging to the side of Lisa's workbench; an x-ray looking photograph of a brain with a slab of tape across the bottom of it that spelled "LANA LOUD" in bold marker.

"Well, I would but I wanted to see what you've been working on in here so I thought I'd stick around."

"You've never taken heed to any of my scientific expeditions before. What catalyst has inspired this atypical curiosity?" Lisa wondered.

"That picture of Lana's brain, for starters," Lynn stated as she pointed to the picture that had piqued her interest.

Alarms rang in Lisa's head and immediately, without thinking, she snatched the picture off the bench and hid it behind her back. Out of all the things she could've done to get anyone off of her trail, forgetting to put away her incriminating picture of reference was the most damning of them all.

Much to her horror, she realized that it was too late. Lynn had seen everything and she could no longer try to casually play off what Lynn had uncovered.

"I've also noticed that you've been holed up in your room more than usual, ever since the day Lori and Lola snuck off on their own to go to the hospital to see Lana. And now…"

Lynn reached back for the picture that Lisa hid from her and easily snatched it out of her hand.

"…you're clearly trying to hide something from me. What's going on, Lisa?"

Lisa stammered and stuttered as she looked up at her older sister, who was now frowning and waiting for an answer. Normally, she was against lying but this was one time where she felt that she absolutely had to make an exception. The only problem now was thinking of a good enough one to get Lynn from discovering her secret.

Before she could continue to think of one any further, reprieve, in the form of her father, arrived when he called out his two children from the top of the staircase.

"Lynn, Lisa, are you coming down now or what? I can't promise that there'll be anything left if you don't get your butts down here fast enough."

Lisa went to answer her father but Lynn was faster, cupping a hand over her mouth before she could say anything to weasel her way out of whatever it was that Lynn just caught her in.

"It's okay, Dad. I'm not really hungry and neither is Lisa. We'll eat a little later," responded Lynn.

They both waited for their father's answer and much to Lynn's delight and Lisa's dismay, he decided to let them be.

"Alright then but don't say I didn't warn you. I overheard Lucy say that she's going to use some of the tortilla shells and shredded cheese for a séance she's having later tonight," replied Lynn Sr. as he headed back to his family.

Once he did so, Lynn made a beeline for the door, locking it behind her, and marching back over to Lisa, who was now on her bed and trembling slightly as her older sister stood before her.

"Okay, Lisa. Now start explaining yourself. Whatever you're working on clearly involves Lana and I wanna know what it is. Don't think I don't know how to make you talk," Lynn threatened with a chuckle as Lisa's eyes widened when Lynn's finger began to slowly inch towards her open mouth.

Lisa knew what that meant. Wet willies were not an enjoyable experience and she wasn't planning on reliving them any time soon. Besides, as long as she could convince Lynn not to tell anyone else, she was sure that everything would turn out fine.

The only issue came with the possibility of Lynn's objection to her plan but she figured that she really didn't have a choice in the matter as she was sure to crack under the disgusting feeling of Lynn's saliva soaked appendages digging around her ear so she might as well come clean with a clean ear to boot.

Sighing, Lisa looked up at Lynn with a pleading look while she took a hold of the hand that wasn't holding the brain image.

"Very well. But you must swear on your lucky hockey stick that you divulge this information to no one else. Please."

Lynn was happy that Lisa was finally opening up to her and didn't think twice about spilling the beans to anyone else. If that meant getting to the bottom of Lisa's weird behavior, she could deal with keeping her mouth shut.

"Okay…" Lynn seemingly agreed "…but can I tell Lily? I mean, she is a baby after all and it's not like she's gonna blab off your-"

"Lynn!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Lynn chortled as she ruffled Lisa's hair with her free hand. She placed the picture back where she found it and laid in bed with Lisa, facing her as she laid out on her side. "So, what's that noggin of yours been tinkering on?" Lynn asked as he lightly poked the top of her head for emphasis.

Lisa grouchily adjusted her hair back to normal before she confessed.

"Before I indulge you with that, I'll have to start at the beginning," Lisa stated, getting herself more comfortable as she sat up on the edge of her bed. Lynn followed suit.

"The first time I saw Lana after her accident, everything appeared to be going smoothly. I toyed with the idea of intervening with her recovery but found no need to do so since I briefly assessed her motor skills and while they were obviously impaired, they weren't hopelessly debilitated.

But then two days ago, our parents informed us of a complication that arose sporadically-"

"The seizure," Lynn stated matter-of-factly, who was now taking on the same forlorn look on her face that Lisa was doing when she thought back to that bomb being dropped on all of them.

"Precisely, and since then, I've realized that I can no longer rest on my laurels and assume that Lana will recuperate at a normal pace. The fact that we've been prohibited from seeing her this whole time does nothing to quell my anxiety. I fear we might be contending with a reality much worse than any of us could've hoped against.

Therefore, when we were told of her seizure, that night, I produced a copy of the most recent sagittal CT scan of Lana's brain that was taken that night."

"How'd you manage to do that without going to the hospital?" Lynn asked.

Lisa felt herself getting cold as she replayed the words she had just said to Lynn in her head. She had just told her about one of, perhaps the most, incriminating part of her plan without thinking to gloss over it.

She began sweating nervously as she looked around the room, almost as if she was looking for a way out. She faced Lynn again, who had the same quizzical and chary look on her face from before, once again, catching Lisa in a bind that she didn't intend to let her squirm out of.

"Well, uh, nothing that a little bit of hacking into the Royal Woods General computer systems and appropriating the necessary data from Lana's medical files couldn't fix, am I right?" Lisa fumbled out innocently, flashing Lynn with a wide grin that she hoped would placate the rage that she was sure to follow once she found out that her little sister was involved in illegal, criminal activity.

Lynn said nothing, simply staring back at Lisa in disbelief and with her mouth slightly open. She finally began forming words after about a minute of silence.

"That…"

"N-now, Lynn, I realize that what I got away would not only result in immense legal ramifications-"

"…is…"

"R-remember your promise! This is all for a good cause, Lynn! Please don't-"

"…awesome! Way to go, Lisa!" Lynn praised elatedly.

Lisa tried to will her beating heart to stop as she placed her hand over her chest, reveling in the fact that she openly admitted to hacking a medical facility yet getting away with it in the end. Keeping her composure as best she could, she went back to her story, hoping to not have to bring up the CT scan again unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Well, what's more awesome was that I was able to do so without having the breach get detected in the first place. Anyways, with the necessary information I had, all I had to do was determine the damage in her brain and in accordance to the abuse I discovered in this region of her brainstem, namely the projections to the thalamus and cerebral cortex, I was able to deduce that the primary cause of Lana's coma was induced by damage to her reticular formation."

"What's a reticular formation?" Lynn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Only one of the most vital and essential components of the brain that enables consciousness," Lisa explained. "A heavily damaged reticular formation results in a coma that's irreversible. Fortunately, the damage is mostly surface level, meaning that there's frayed interference in the neural pathways. Think of it like when you get really cheap earbuds and if you jostle them around too much, they'll function but much less efficiently."

"That makes sense, I guess," Lynn said after she pondered over the analogy for a bit.

Still, whatever it was that Lisa was thinking about doing, it was obvious that she'd need to be intrusive. Lynn didn't think that Lisa wouldn't be prepared for that but she still wasn't sure how she'd pull it off without having to literally dig deep into Lana's head.

"But still, I don't get how you're going to help Lana. It's not like the doctors are just gonna let you perform brain surgery on her."

For the first time in a while, Lisa smiled. She enjoyed enlightening her siblings, both because it would enrich them mentally but because she would get to show off how much she knew or what she could create.

She was so giddy over the prospect of showing off that she completely forgot about how hesitant she was about going through with her idea to begin with.

"I won't have to do anything," Lisa beamed as she slid off her bed, motioning to Lynn that she wanted her to follow. Lynn stayed close behind as she watched Lisa excitedly scramble up her stool, her legs flailing for a bit as she did so. She would've remarked how cute Lisa was but she remembered that Lisa didn't tolerate being called cute or anything synonymous very well.

Once she was on her stool, she pointed at the widespread blueprints that were opened up next to her microscope.

"But they will," Lisa revealed enigmatically.

Lynn didn't really get what she was looking at. It just looked like a complicated pencil sketch of a weird looking sphere, with equations and notes that Lynn didn't even want to start attempting to decipher, knowing that she was way out of her element.

"And just who is…they?" Lynn wondered.

Lisa was more than happy to answer.

"These are blueprints to the final draft of a generic brand of nanites I've been keeping in development for the past several months. The world still isn't privy on the possibilities of nanotechnology, mostly because no one has been able to make any sort of breakthrough and I've been on the cusp of doing it myself. The amount of possible medical innovations bred from these nanites, for instance, would be endless if I could get them off the ground.

So I thought that if I got around to constructing this prototype and equipping them with a program, that would allow them to self-pilot themselves to the damaged reticular formation and then coax a neural response by prodding it into action, I could resuscitate Lana, hopefully with next to no risks. Plus, I've encased them with a synthetic antigen that should assist them in surmounting a potential antibody response that would've otherwise destroyed my foreign intruders.

All I have to do is inject them into one of her internal carotid arteries and let them travel to the brain to get to work. Once their programming has been carried out, they'll implode into easily manageable fragments that will immediately be destroyed by the leukocytes, leaving no trace amounts of any substances that can cause harm to Lana's body in the process," Lisa explained with a somewhat smug grin on her face, taking in the amazed look on Lynn's face as she did so.

Lynn didn't understand words like "antigen" and "neural" but she got the gist of what Lisa had planned: send tiny little robots to Lana's brain, fix what was damaged, and then get destroyed, all while not poisoning Lana from the inside. What's more was that she came so far in about a few days!

Lynn was completely over the moon. Thanks to Lisa, they'd get their sister back in record time. All that was left was waiting for the doctors to give everyone their approval to visit Lana and Lisa could initiate her plan.

Overwhelmed with joy, Lynn grabbed Lisa out of her seat and spun her around the room, squeezing her with a hug.

"Seriously?! That's amazing! Lisa, you're the best!" Lisa extolled gleefully.

Though happy that Lynn was appreciative of her efforts, Lisa wasn't too thrilled about being crushed.

"Lynn," Lisa squealed in a strained voice. "You're denying me of the necessary intake of oxygen."

Lynn stopped her spinning about immediately when she heard her sister's plea.

"Oops," Lynn abashedly said as she placed Lisa back on the ground. "Sorry."

For the second time that day, Lisa shuffled her hair back into place.

"Not to worry. No long-lasting harm done," Lisa assured.

Now that she was sure that she hadn't scrunched up Lisa like an accordion, Lynn needed to get to the bottom of something that she wanted to know. In her excited stupor, Lynn had forgotten to ask about Lisa's progress. Knowing her, she was probably almost done.

"So anyways, how close are you to getting finished?" Lynn asked.

Lisa froze as she absorbed the question and thought back to what she had planned to do with her nanites since early this morning before she went to bed.

Ever since she woke up, she went back to work on her nanites, making a few superfluous adjustments to them that had absolutely no sort of change to her practicality.

All day long, she had simply been fiddling about with their shape, slaving herself to the menial task of something that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things and she knew exactly why.

She was practically done with them already but it made Lisa afraid. Her experiment was finished. There was no excuse for her to back down from helping Lana know except for what she feared would happened if she failed. She had deluded her into a cycle of pointless labor throughout the day and now that Lynn had unknowingly brought back her fears into the limelight, she was no longer confident in herself.

The sound of intentional throat clearing broke Lisa out of her trance and once she realized that she was on the spot, hurriedly admitted her headway to her somewhat impatient sister.

"The fundamentals of their structure have been completed. I just need to do some fine tuning to ensure that absolutely no downside could come from their aid," Lisa confirmed, though Lynn wasn't sure why Lisa seemed so hesitant to admit that, at least a little anyways.

She doubted that Lisa was lying about that, knowing full well about her policy about not telling lies to leave enough space in her brain for more important things.

Regardless, she had to see them for herself.

"Can I see 'em?" Lynn asked, hoping that Lisa would agree to it.

Lisa didn't see the harm, thinking that Lynn wouldn't be able to tell how far she had come.

"Uuuuh, sure," Lisa allowed as she stood by and watched Lynn peer into her microscope and at the nanotechnology she constructed.

Lynn marveled at the tiny inventions that Lisa had put together. She counted about twenty of them and each one looked identical to the sketch that was on the blueprint.

As far as she was concerned, Lisa was already done. She looked down at Lisa, who looked slightly on edge for reasons Lynn wasn't sure about.

"Well, I'm no scientist or anything but they look done to me, Lisa. What could you possibly have left to finish?" Lynn asked, noting how fidgety and tense Lisa was.

Was she really tired from working all day? She couldn't imagine so, knowing that Lisa never liked working when she was tried, wanting to retain as much focus as possible. She got off the stool to stand right before Lisa and wait for her to answer.

"It's just that…I uh…" Lisa scrambled about without saying much of anything. She desperately wanted to be anywhere but here. She'd rather allow her doubts to toy with her mind and retain her in her cycle of tinkering with her nanites then come clean.

The longer she kept them locked away, the more she felt as if she'd only have to deal with them mentally and not out in the open, as if her fears could manifest physically and torture her.

"Just that what, Lisa?"

Lisa clammed up, not wanting to vocalize her inner thoughts any further, or at least fail to do so effectively.

"Lisa, what's wr-"

"What if I fail?"

Though she asked the question meekly, Lisa felt as if she announced her troubles to the world. What's done was done. She could no longer get away from her woes now that she expressed them to someone else, someone who would possibly tell her how awful she was for coming so far with something that could potentially kill her sister.

At this point, Lisa felt like she had nothing to lose and that she might as well go through with the rest and hope that she'd feel like she'd have the world lifted off her shoulders, even if she was sure that Lynn would think less of her.

"Lynn, have you considered what it is I'm doing here? I'm attempting to revive Lana from a coma, using technology that has no prior base for me to lean on for a reference. I'm venturing into the unknown with time working against me and the calamitous possibility of failure looming over my head should this experiment come to fruition. What I'm planning on repairing is very, very delicate. One miscalculation, even the slightest hiccup, and Lana will…"

Lynn bent down and firmly gripped Lynn's shoulders, holding them tightly and looking her dead in the eye as she did so. She picked up where Lisa was going and wanted to put a stop to the horrible things she was thinking about this instant.

"Don't say that, Lisa. Don't even think about it," Lynn resolutely demanded.

Lisa's eyes burned as she felt tears beginning to mold. No matter how much Lynn tried to console her, it wouldn't be enough for her to shake the images of a dead Lana out of her head and knowing that her family would scorn her until her dying breath.

"But how can I not?!" Lisa objected. "What if what I attempt to do only makes things worse?! What if, because of me, my sister becomes-"

"Don't say it, Lisa!"

"Dead! Dead! Dead, dead, dead! I can't escape that, Lynn! It's not something I can just sweep under the rug! I can't! It's not sound logic to deny the unpleasant probability of catastrophe just because we don't want to confront it! If I fail, Lana could wind up in a casket!"

Tears spilled out her eyes like a roaring river as Lisa fell to her knees, facedown against the carpet as she sobbed hysterically. Lynn quickly rushed to her side to embrace her but stopped herself when Lisa turned over to her side so she could speak, albeit slightly unintelligibly from all the hiccupping and sniveling that kept her from speaking clearly.

"I won't be able to live myself if I kill her. I'll embrace the consequences of my actions if I'm rejected by the scientist community. If I'm never able to own so much as a microscope ever again, I'll accept that, too. But…but besides being responsible for ending my sister's life, knowing that in the back of my mind, all of you will despise me, regret the day I was ever born into your lives…"

She felt herself about to spiral into another crying fit but stopped herself so she could finish.

"Knowing that can happen is a fate worse than death."

Lisa picked herself up off the floor, using the sleeve of her sweater to wipe away at her face and clean herself of any residue from the tears and mucus that was drying on her face.

"No."

She put her slightly crooked glasses back in place as she looked up at Lynn and was taken about at how almost stone-faced and steadfast she was.

"W-what?" Lisa posed weakly.

Lynn shook her head emphatically and gazed back at Lisa unyieldingly.

"No. That's not going to happen. You giving up being a scientist, us hating you, Lana dying. None of that is going to happen. You're going to go through with what you started and you're going bring Lana back to us."

"But I-"

"No 'buts'. You hear me? None of that," Lynn commanded and sat cross-legged and picked up Lisa to settle in her lap.

Much like a rabid dog, Lisa hate being coddled and held but Lynn didn't care. She needed to know that all of those terrible figments of her imagination were just that; figments that were in no way, shape, or form anywhere close to playing out in the real world. Not a chance in hell.

"Lisa, if you've shown me anything, it's that when you put your mind to a task, nothing is impossible for you. You've helped all of us time and time again with your inventions before, haven't you?"

If this was Lynn trying to make her feel better, Lisa didn't feel much at ease at all. None of her experiments or inventions ever had possible death as a side effect, at least the ones that she tested on her family.

"I don't deny that I've made your lives easier but this time…this is different. This isn't something frivolous like helping Leni by creating the perfect hair conditioner. Lynn, this is life or death."

Instead of reeling back to consider her words like she predicted, Lisa was stunned at the big smile that was Lynn's face now.

She found herself held even tighter in Lynn's arms and she allowed her to do so, loving the assurance that Lynn didn't hate her guts.

"Exactly. That's why I know you won't make any careless mistakes. Look, I don't know exactly why you don't want anyone else to find out about what you're doing but my sisters, Lincoln, Mom, and Dad would all tell you that they believe in you. The only one who doesn't believe in you…is you," Lynn expressed sagely.

Lisa knew as much about her self-doubt but hearing it from someone else affected her profoundly. The only side of her scientist demeanor that she allowed anyone to see was of her snide, self-assured side, not the side of her that scrambled about flurriedly when she ran into a mental block or the one that was dead tired after a long day's work.

Even though she couldn't quite restore her self-confidence in herself, she was at least happy that someone believed in her, supported her despite how little of herself she thought of herself.

"And why the self-doubt, anyways?" Lynn questioned with a laugh. "Like I said, I'm no scientist but I can already guess, just by looking at them, that those nanites are as good as done and you're only stalling yourself. Am I right or what?"

Lisa nodded reservedly at how easily she was found out but she was still jocular about having her worries not met with disdain from Lynn.

Lynn grinned from ear to ear and nuzzled her cheek into the top of her head.

"Just as I thought. Look, Lisa, if you really don't want to go through with this, if you really think that the odds of failure are too great, then you owe it to no one to go against your gut. But between you and me, if the odds of you getting this wrong were at 100%, knowing you, you'd find a way around it. You always do."

Despite everything that was said by Lynn, Lisa was shocked by how much Lynn believed in her. So much so that she felt tears welling up again.

"Do you…do you really mean that, Lynn?" Lisa asked timidly, waiting for Lynn to answer her.

Before she could, though, she gasped when she saw the quivering smile on Lynn's face, along with her own tears that were streaming down the side of her face.

"I wouldn't tell you if I didn't mean it, Lisa."

Both sisters simultaneously grabbed each in a hug, not breaking the silence that had enveloped the room. They felt as though words were no longer necessary.

For Lynn, she was proud of her little sister and more than happy to remind her that she was a wonderfully brilliant girl that went out of her way to help out a family member in need. She believed in her and would always be her confidant whenever she didn't believe in herself.

For Lisa, she was relieved that even though Lynn had found out about her project, she not only had no qualms about what she venturing into but was there to restore her self-confidence when she felt as if she couldn't move forward with her idea.

They spent the better part of three minutes embracing each other, with Lynn slightly rocking back and forth soothingly.

Suddenly, the sound of stomach growling made them both flinch; namely Lisa, who looked up at Lynn and found her grinning somewhat nervously.

"Sorry. Guess I was hungrier than I thought," she confessed.

Truth be told, she had forgotten all about dinner up until this point but she knew that her stomach could wait. Lisa needed all the encouragement that she could have.

"But listen, if you need me to stay here and reassure you while you finish up on your tech, I can-"

Lisa wagged her hands about and shook her head.

"No, no, no. That's fine. Like you said, I was only stalling myself. We can do to dinner now, if you want," Lisa proposed as she got out of Lynn's lap to stand up.

Lynn was delighted about that idea and hoped that Luan hadn't eaten her portion of the food. She knew all about Luan's taco love and figured that she was the only person in the entire house who would stand a chance at beating her in a taco eating contest.

"Sounds good to me," Lynn declared and got up off the floor to join Lisa as they both made their way to the door.

Lynn noticed that Lisa suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked back at the scientist. Before she could ask what the hold-up was, Lisa spoke up.

"By the way, Lynn…"

"Hm? What is it, Lisa?"

Lisa wagged her finger towards herself, motioning for Lynn to walk over and lean down until her face was close to hers. As quick as a flash, Lisa lightly kissed Lynn on the cheek, beaming brightly after she did so.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Lynn."

 **A/N:** Not gonna lie. Got a bit misty-eyed writing this. But just a bit, okay?

Special thanks to StarMendes for wishing me well and all. I'm basically back to eating solid, real food now and just in time for me to gorge on buffalo wings, pizza, and chips while I watch the Redskins struggle to get in the playoffs this season. Hurray for me. :)

Also, in case you haven't been able to keep up, Lana's accident happened on a Saturday. As of this chapter, it's next week Thursday. Hope that helps. :)


	14. Chapter 14

On a Friday night, the Loud house would usually be mellowed out and chill after a long day of both school and spending time with friends. Today was no exception to that rule. Everyone had gone to their rooms after getting ready for bed, meaning that there was a line of Louds waiting their turn to brush their teeth and use the toilet before calling it a day.

Only Luna Loud was outside of her room as she had been last to be in line. In fact, it was something that she did rather deliberately and often. She didn't mind being last to use the bathroom before bed. It meant that she didn't have to worry about holding up the line while she prepared herself for a good night's slumber.

Emerging from the bathroom completely satisfied, Luna briskly walked to her room, opening the door once she got in front of it. Like she expected, she found her sister and roommate, Luan, busy playing around on her laptop as she laid on her bed. She wore the same look of exertion and focus that Luna noticed that she usually had on when she was trying to think of good material for her open mic night gigs at Royal Woods' various comedy clubs, meaning that whatever Luan was working on was important.

Luna usually didn't bother Luan with her personal tasks but this was the same sight that she had walked in on at night for the past few days. Curiosity stirred Luna's next move as she climbed on top of Luan's bed, shuffling towards her until they were both looking at the screen in front of them.

"'Sup, sister from the same mister?" Luna cheerfully greeted with absolute adoration. "What'cha working on there?"

Luan broke her gaze from her laptop to turn to her sister and reciprocate Luna's bright smile.

"Oh, nothing. Just putting the final touches in the editing of today's video montage for ' _Lana's Library of Laughs'_. Trust me, Luna, these hilarious highlights _reel-ly_ deliver."

"I'm sure they do," Luna chuckled dryly but amused with Luan's pun all the same.

As for the revelation, Luna was dumbfounded that she didn't guess that on her own. _'Lana's Library of Laughs'_ , as Luan had bombastically dubbed the project when she first announced it to her after seeing Lana for the first time since her accident, was a collection of pranks and gags that Luan had orchestrated on random targets throughout the house, all for the purpose of catching them on video and then editing in the clips together for one big smorgasbord of laughs and hijinks that Lana could enjoy once she got out of the hospital…

' _If she gets out,'_ Luna thought somberly but quickly banished the thought in favor of thinking about Luan's pranks. The last thing she needed to be focusing her attention on was Lana not recovering and returning home, even if the news about her seizure made that gloomy possibility a plausible outcome.

Over the course of the last few days, Luna had endured a bucket of fish heads dropped on her head, the bathroom sink spraying cold water in her face, and finding her beanbag glued to the ceiling.

Overall, besides being mildly annoyed, along with the other victims of the Louse House, Luna couldn't say that she minded the pranks. They were all harmless and a good chunk of them were amusing, especially since she knew that it was for a good cause.

"Say, you mind if I watch what you've made so far?" Luna asked.

"Not at all. I don't mind a second opinion, especially when they're not from hecklers armed with rotten produce and profanity-laced diatribes," Luan joked as she saved the work she was fiddling about with on _Phony Vegas_ before pulling up the saved file that she finished yesterday night before going to sleep.

"I hear that," giggled Luna, sharing Luan's disdain for riley, stuck-up critics of their stage work.

Luna got up from Luan's bed to go retrieve her own blanket from her bed, knowing full well that Luan's was too small for them to share. The drool spots, that Luan was guilty of littering her blanket with as she slept, didn't make the prospect of sharing anymore endearing, either.

Once Luna returned, Luan pulled the laptop up a bit closer to Luna's face so she could get a good view.

"Hey, Luna," inquired Luan, "you mind if you watch yesterday's montage, too? At least the last bit. There's something I saw at the end of my recording that coaxed me into today's prank on Lori and Lola."

Luna nearly jumped out of her skin at the names she heard come from Luan's mouth. Had she heard correctly? Lori? Lola? The two sisters in the house with the shortest tempers and who were both peeved at the other for whatever happened at the hospital merely three days ago? Luan had pranked _them_?

To Luna, that wasn't the equivalent of poking a sleeping bear with a stick. That was blaring an airhorn right in the bear's ear after making sure that you closed off the entrance to the den so you'd have no chance of escape.

Now that Luna thought about it, Luan looked completely unharmed. How could she pull of pranking the two most volatile, hostile pair of blondes that Luna had ever known?

"Woah, dude, on Lori _and_ Lola?" Luna asked. "That takes a lot of balls."

Luna's brain immediately caught the implications of her choice of words and she rushed to initiate damage control hurriedly, much to Luan's amusement.

"Gender notwithstanding," Luna quips with a huge grin that gets Luan roaring with laughter. She gets a playfully reprimanding nudge in the shoulder for her troubles.

Luan fires back with a joke of her own as she mirthfully jests, "Good thing they were bowling balls, then, 'cause I had plenty to _spare_!"

The brunette sisters found themselves both grabbing onto each other and laughing up a storm. It wasn't often that a Luan pun would send her into a laughing fit but she did, she never relented in expressing her amusement out loud, even if it meant that it would coerce Luan into trying her hand at more puns, thus creating the opportunity for failure and complete dissonance.

After about a minute, they stopped, readjusting themselves so they were lying down on their stomachs. By now, Luan had pulled up the video file of what she created yesterday. She dragged the play cursor all the way 'til the end, where only about a minute of the ten-minute-long footage was left to show.

"Alright then, take a look at what I saw yesterday, a couple hours after we all left the dinner table," Luan requested as she hit the play button.

The video shows a peppy, upbeat Luan, ascending the stairs from a bird's eye view, obviously from the fact that Luan was pointing her trusty video camera down at herself from up high. She turns towards the camera once she gets to the very top and waves merrily with a grin.

"Well, Lana, that does it for today's presentation," the recorded Luan states with a hint of sadness in her tone, "but I bet by now, your ribs are really sore from all that laughing you've probably done so how's about we take a little intermission from the fun and go say "hi" to Lola, okay?"

The video shows Luan pointing away the camera from herself to show the hallways of the upstairs level. The view turns towards Lola and Lana's room, which was only momentarily sealed off by a closed door, since it swung upon to reveal Lola in her sleepwear, peering out of her room to quickly scan the area. Before Lola could spot the camera and Luan, the video revealed Luan quickly but quietly bolting down the stairs far enough to avoid Lola but not enough to completely obstruct the camera from showing whatever Lola's doing.

From her crouched position, Luan's camera work is at the perfect spot to see Lola gingerly and timidly approach Lori and Leni's room. Lola is shown to be nervously wringing her hands and shaking a bit before she slowly makes a fist and reaches out for the door in front of her, as if she were going to knock. Her hand freezes before knuckles can meet wood and with a huff, the camera pans, following Lola as she marches back to her room and closes the door behind her.

Sighing, Luan is shown turning the camera back around to face her, equipped with a sad frown.

"Change of plans, Lana. So, since you don't know what that was all about, see, Lori and Lana haven't spoken to each other since they both went off to visit you at the hospital a few days ago. Something must've went down that really got 'em steaming mad but from the looks of things, it looks Lola wants to make amends but doesn't know quite how to do it. And if I know Lori, chances are, she probably wants to do the same, too."

It doesn't take long for the sadness to dissipate and leave behind a chortling, mischievous Luan to cackle exuberantly, obviously at a plan she just concocted.

"But that's where I come into play. You're gonna see how a well-timed, brilliantly executed prank can bring two warring sisters together and Lori and Lola won't be any different. You just watch," Luan declares before the footage ends.

Now that that was finished, Luan pulls up her unfinished highlight reel from today's big prank on Lola and Lori, prompting Luna to try to get to the bottom of a mystery that Luan's video presented to her.

"Heeeeeeey," Luna drawls out as she faces Luan, "now that you mention it, Lori and Lola didn't look like they wanted to kill each other at all a few hours after we came back from school. How did you make them start talking to each other again?"

"Here," Luan points to the screen to draw Luna's attention to the new video that she has in store for her. "Just check this out and you'll see how it all played out."

Luan presses play and the new footage displays Luan in the living room, sitting on the couch with no one else around. Like before, the view of her is somewhat from a bird's eye perspective.

"Hey, Lana," the taped jokester greets, "It's day six of your recovery, which means that you'll be _even_ closer to coming back home,"

Before the video can play any further, Luna pauses it and groans into her hands at the rather weak pun that Luan thought would be a good idea to record. She loved Luan to pieces but her bad puns were the stuff of nightmares.

She peeks at Luan through her fingers and realizes that even she knew she was reaching with that one.

"Yeah, I'll admit, that pun could've gone a little better," Luan tamely admits as she nervously plays with the tip of her ponytail, looking away from her judging sister shyly.

To show that her contempt was only with the bad joke and not with her, Luna reassuringly combs her fingers through her hair.

"Meh. Don't sweat it. It's the thought that counts," Luna cordially encourages.

She notes that small smile spread on Luan's face and pushes the play button now that she knows she didn't cause her sister to go down in the dumps. The footage resumes where it left off.

"Anyways, now we'll begin Phase 1 of Operation: "Get Lori and Lola To Reconcile Their Differences So That Lana Can Return To One Big, Happy Family". I realize that it's a bit of a mouthful of a name, though. Maybe I can get Lincoln to help me out with that in the future…"

The video instantly cuts away to Luan crouched right outside the bathroom, holding the camera away from her far enough for the door and for herself to be seen visibly.

"Get ready for Phase 1, Lana," Luan declares proudly. "First, we mess around with the doorknob of the bathroom door until…"

The footage makes another sharp cutaway, now from a different angle as Luan is no longer in view, but the doorknob of the bathroom door is completely in view.

"Voila! Now, it locks from the outside instead of the other way around like it should. I'll have to make sure I re-adjust it back to normal later but for now, it's going to have to stay that way. Thanks for the assist with your tools, by the way," says the recorded Luan as the camera pans down to Lana's trusty toolbox.

"For Phase 2," the taped Luan explains with levity in her voice, "we get Lola and Lori into the bathroom by giving them a reason to do so. How, you might ask? Well, normally, I prefer subtlety when it comes to pranks but in this case, I thought it'd be best if we just got down to the nitty-gritty ASAP so I'm going to have to take…"a gulp can be heard, clearly from a now nervous, apprehensive Luan "…pretty drastic measures."

Once again, the footage transitions quickly into the next piece of film, which features the scene moving about rather quickly, as if Luan were running for dear life. The angle shows Luan's feet moving at a fast pace as they ascend the stairs. Because of the great mic quality of her camera, they're able to pick up the two shrill, almost demonic-like voices shrieking from behind her, as well as two pairs of feet rattling and banging against the stairs at about the same pace as Luan's.

"LUAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" calls out a more than agitated Lori.

"GET BACK HERE!" screams Lola with the same vigor and venom as her elder sister.

Despite the life-threatening situation zeroing in on her, Luan is all on good spirits as she speaks out to the camera for the viewer.

"So as you can see, I got Lori and Lola to come after me like they're bulls in a china shop! How you might ask?!" The camera angle moves slightly towards her free hand, showing off the fact that it contains both Lola's tiara and Lori's phone in gripped fingers. "I managed to swipe these from them when they weren't looking! So now, it's time to initiate Phase 3!"

By now, recorded Luan has made it to the bathroom door and swings it open. The camera perspective turns around to show both Lola and Lori charging towards her, their faces betraying any idea about either of them letting Luan off the hook for the stunt she pulled.

The footage shows Luan tossing her pilfered items into the bathroom, causing the two blondes to shift their focus away from Luan and towards the bathroom to retrieve their stolen trinkets. Both Lori and Lola are seen sliding across the floor as they leap into the bathroom. Once said and done, Luan is shown quickly slamming the door and locking it, now securely trapping the most violent and outspoken sisters in cramped confinement.

It doesn't take long for the frantic banging of the door to be heard, indicating that once they got what they wanted, Lori and Lola tried to leave but were found to be quite unsuccessful in their attempts. Luan can be heard snickering at their vain attempts at freedom.

"LUAN! LUAAAAAAAAN!" shouts Lola, not completely muffled from behind the door as the banging continued.

"LUAN, WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE DOOR?!" demands Lori sharply. "LUAAAAAN, YOU OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW! DO YOU HEAR ME?! LUAN!"

"What's that?! Could you speak up a bit?! I don't think the entire neighborhood has heard you quite yet!" taunts Luan as she holds the camera in front of her for the rattling of the door to be clear.

The knocking and doorknob jostling continues for about a good thirty seconds before it finally stops. Stilled silence ensures for about a second before it's broken by Lori's declaration.

"YOU KNOW WHAT?! FINE! I DON'T NEED YOU! I'LL JUST CALL MOM AND DAD AND HAVE THEM GET US OUT OF HERE! THEN, YOU'RE GONNA BE SORRY! HA! LOOKS LIKE YOU SHOULD'VE THOUGHT YOUR LITTLE PRANK OUT BETTER, LUAN!"

Luan can be heard "pssh'ing" at Lori's threat. More silence ensues, for much longer this time, until…

"WHAT THE…WHY YOU, LITTLE DEMON! LUAN! YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO GET US BOTH OUT OF HERE _AND_ TO GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE BATTERIES BEFORE I MAIM YOU WITH LYNN'S ENTIRE GOLF CLUB COLLECTION!"

"AND DON'T THINK I WON'T GET A FEW LICKS IN MYSELF!" Lola chimes in.

Luan stifles her cackling for the sake of taunting her sisters further.

"How about this? How about the two of you get real comfortable in there while I go and raid the both of your closets for new material that I can get Leni to sew into new clown costumes for me?"

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!" Lori and Lola challenge in unison.

"You're right," says Luan "I wouldn't…as long as you two start talking to each other again and make up already. Then, once it's all said and done, I'll let you both go."

"WHAT?!" the blondes speak in tandem once more, sounding much more like a protest than a declaration of anger.

The camera angle swings over to show Luan winking at the camera before showing the door again.

"Welp, suit yourselves while I suit _myself_ with your oh-so generous donations. I'm off to find some measuring tape and scissors. Hope you don't mind a few of your dresses and blouses having holes in them."

With that, the camera drags away from the door, picking up less and less of the banging and shouting as Luan walks further and further away.

"Of course, I'd never do that to them. Every comedian needs to know when a joke's gone too far, after all," Luan sagely proclaims. "That being said, I'd say that two hours should be enough time for them to reconcile. In the meantime, I'll just have to make sure no one uses the bathroom before then. You'll see, Lana. Your big sister has this one in the bag."

Unbeknownst to Luan, at least for the moment, what transpired in the bathroom between Lola and Lori would spell disaster for her.

* * *

 _5 hours earlier…_

As Lori slumped forward on the toilet, she lamented her rotten luck as of late. Not only had she gotten into trouble for making a scene at the hospital with the staff and with her parents, now she was locked in the bathroom with the person who probably despised her the most. Had anyone asked her if she cared what Lola thought about her three days ago, she would've promptly told them that she couldn't literally care less about Lola's stupid, irrelevant opinion.

But as time passed, and Lori reflected on what had happened that day, she realized that regardless of who started what, they were both clearly in the wrong. They both acted out and they were both punished. But besides that obvious point, there was that business about Lola calling her a liar, seemingly out of nowhere and for no good reason whatsoever.

That and the fact that she refused to open about her problem and just talk things out…hurt. A lot. Lori liked to believed that her siblings could depend on her for anything and that included making amends if they felt that she slighted them somehow. But every time she would walk past Lola and consider trying to patch things up, she would zip past her, as if she didn't exist to her or in the rare instances where their eyes would meet, she'd take in her stare for about a second, as if she mulled over the idea of speaking to her, and then tear away in disgust.

Her fists curl until her knuckles whiten as she takes in the sight in front of her: Lola walking around in circles, as if she were trying to figure out a way to get out without talking to her. She was sure it had been about twenty minutes(Lori would be certain to know if her phone had their batteries in them) by now, without a single word spoken.

Lori, with an irritated gruff, decided to put a stop to the maddening silence.

"Ugh, will you stop pacing around already? It's not going to solve anything and it's literally bugging me watching you walk around in circles endlessly."

Instead of ignoring her like she expects, Lola actually does what she says, even though her back is conveniently turned to her.

"At least you're being honest for a change," she hears Lola bitterly jab at her.

Lori bites down the urge to lift up the sink and hurl it towards the wall, stopping herself to instead, get to the bottom of Lola's "liar" accusation once and for all.

"Okay, real talk. What the heck does that even mean, Lola? Seriously, I've been trying to rack my brain about what you mean by that and I really don't get it."

"You…" Lola begins before faltering, "you wouldn't understand. Just drop it."

"Not happening."

"The door opening any time soon or you letting this go?"

"Both," Lori says with a smirk as she looks on at Lola give up her struggle to ignore her.

Getting up from the toilet, Lori sits down on the carpeted part of the floor, looking Lola in the eye as she does so.

"Look, I know we're both on the top of our worst enemies lists right now…okay, scratch that, Luan is, but even if we talk things out and we still don't like each other for a while, the least we can do is talk for the sake of pretending we're not angry at each other and getting out of here. Deal?"

Her proposition is met with no reply whatsoever.

" _Lola_ ," Lori says with emphasis to urge Lola into saying something. _Anythin_ g.

Finally, the pageant contest winner replies.

"Okay," Lola agrees, although there's a hint of stubborn resistance in her tone.

To Lori's surprise, Lola closes the distance between them and sits on the floor right in front of her. Lori smiles at the gesture and clears her throat, indicating that she wants Lola to start really paying attention to her.

"Now look, before we get into this 'liar' stuff of yours, I just wanna let you know that I'm sorry for the way I snapped at you in the hospital. Besides Mom and Dad, I'm the one who should be looking out for you guys the most and I really let you down by not setting a good example. And besides, it's not like you were acting out because you wanted attention. You were really shaken up by what you saw in there, weren't you?"

Lola responds with a nod, to no shock on Lori's part at all.

"Yeah, I figured. I had the luxury of not seeing it unfold before my eyes like you. And the fact that it happened to Lana of all people must've really set you off.

Now look, I'm not saying you were right to make a scene or anything, but still, I understand why you acted out like that and I shouldn't have made it worse by yelling at you. So again, I'm really sorry, Lola."

For the first time in three days, Lola smiles at _her_. It's a small one, Lori notes, but it's progress that she thought that they'd never come close to ever having for a long time and she takes it with gratitude.

"Thanks, Lori. I'm sorry, too. I should've kept a lid on it back there."

As quickly as it came about, the smile vanishes and is replaced by a small frown.

"But…"Lola stumbles as she looks to find the right words, "…but all the same, that's not really why I'm… _kinda_ mad at you."

Kinda mad? Lori figured that she'd be downright furious when it came to how she saw her as a pathological fibber. But "kinda" mad means that she doesn't find her completely repulsive, a fact that she takes in stride.

"It's about me being a liar, right?" Lori asks, already knowing full well that it is.

Taking a turn in the unexpected, Lori looks on at Lola's apprehensive and nervous smile, as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Well…not exactly," the princess wannabe shyly explains.

The only thing that Lori can offer in rebuttal is a strained "Huh?". Lola seems to ignore the reaction entirely as if she continues.

"See, when you really think about it, you never really, per se, lied to me…exactly," Lola fumbles awkwardly. B-but still, the way you made things sound made Lana's coma sound a lot less serious than it was. When you told me about it, the way you said what you said…it almost sounded like you were saying that Lana was just gonna be asleep for a little while. So imagine my surprise when you take me in to see Lana and I see her…"

As if she were struck by lightning, Lori perks up as the realization of her little sister's angst hits her.

"Oh, geez. Now I get it," she groans into her palms.

That night, that awful, horrible night when she was told about Lana's condition over the phone, was one that she was not proud of. Because Lola happened to be standing by while she and her mother discussed Lana, she knew that she'd have to tell Lola about her twin, even after her mother had told her that she'd do it once she got home.

It pained her to talk as if Lana was going through something rather inconsequential but she hated seeing how Lola was acting since Lana was driven away from their home in that ambulance and giving her the grim report of Lana's lack of well-being was a cross that she felt wasn't fit for Lola to bare.

What made it worse was that with the image that Lori had planted into Lola's head, she was completely unprepared for what she had to see out of Lana that day when they both came in to the hospital together. Even though Lori herself didn't predict a seizure taking place either, she felt that it didn't absolve her from practically leading Lola to a horrifying visual that she couldn't have possibly anticipated.

"Lola, I wasn't trying to hurt you," Lori pleaded as she turned to face Lola now, "I just didn't want you to _be_ hurt by letting you in on the cold, hard truth about Lana since I knew it'd hurt you the most. I just hoped that despite everything, that she'd be right as rain ASAP so you wouldn't have to worry anymore.

But I guess all I did was lead you on," she bewails, hiding her face in her hands again in an attempt to shield herself from that disappointed look that she's sure is on Lola's face right now.

Minutes pass without a word from Lola and Lori is certain, absolutely certain, that Lola wants nothing to do with her anymore and would rather be anywhere else in the world but with her. She flinches when she feels Lola's gloved on her shoulder and looks down to see Lola looking at her with compassion.

"I mean, I see where you were coming from and after all, it wasn't like you were trying to be mean to me," Lola answers with the slightest bit of consternation. "I just hate being left out of the loop about things because I'm too young or whatever, especially when it comes to Lana."

Lori hopes, she _prays_ , that this means what she thinks it means.

"So…are we cool?" Lori asks hopefully.

She gets her answer when Lola gives her a thumbs up and she lets go of breath she didn't know she was holding onto.

"Yeah. It was dumb of us to get so mad at each other to begin with," Lola says with a self-deprecating chuckle. "And now look at us."

Lori looks around her and laughs, getting what Lola was talking about.

"Yep. Grounded for a week without TV _and_ locked in the bathroom. Speaking of which, how's about we both get our revenge on Luan once she lets us out of here?"

Simultaneously, the sisters look at each other and beam at one another with a matching heinous, haughty grin

"Just what I had in mind, big sis," Lola giggles wickedly. "But can I make a suggestion?"

"I'm all ears," Lori haughtily and gleefully replies, scooting closer to Lola as she does so.

"Our revenge should be a dish served cold, am I right? And to make it even better, let's leave her with a little surprise on her dumb camera so she _knows_ that she's done for but won't know _when_ it's happening."

"Just what I had in mind, little sis," Lori guffaws maniacally.

With their bond restored, Lola and Lori huddle closely together and begin formulating their plot for the perfect revenge, both of them learning to appreciate how brilliantly evil the other could be as they exchanged ideas back and forth.

* * *

Luan and Luna continue to watch Luan's recording of the prank as it transitions to the piece of footage that Luan hadn't finished editing before Luna wanted to know what she was doing. Because of that, they were both out of the loop for what they were about to see next.

Luan is seen in front of the bathroom door again, this time, no frantic door pounding or shouting from the other side.

"Okay, Lana," taped Luan says to the camera, "it's only been about fifty minutes. I would've had them in there longer but Lincoln insisted that he had to go soon so I better make this quick. I guess all that's left is to see if the two lionesses have swallowed their pride," Luan laughs and finishes with a chipper "Get it?"

She knocks on the door to get the attention of the sisters that she locked away nearly an hour ago, hoping that they weren't too mad at her.

"Hey, guys? You guys on good terms or what?"

Almost immediately, she gets a unified, cheery "We sure are!" from the other side of the door.

"Hmmmmm…I guess you both sound pretty genuine," Luan contemplates. "Alright!"

After unlocking the door, Luan slowly but surely opens it, revealing the pleasant sight of Lori sitting on the toilet, with Lola sitting snugly on her lap as they both look at the camera with big, bright smiles.

"Awwwwwwwwww," Luan coos. "See, you guys? I knew this was all for the best. Group hug?"

They both invite her over with offering gesticulations and the footage shakes about awkwardly since Luan had ran over to hug them both while trying to get a good angle to show all three of them off at the same time. What Luan didn't realize at that time was that while they all hugged, both Lori and Lola looked up at the camera that was pointing down at them and glared at it with menacing glowers, with Lola slowly sliding her thumb across her throat while sticking her tongue out.

"Oh, dear," is all that Luan can say as she gazes at the image of her two sisters' sinister smiles with the thousand-yard stare, her left eye twitching, and her skin turning clammy and dripping with sweat.

Luna refuses to be the tiniest bit sympathetic to her plight, knowing that Luan did this to herself. Still, she did have enough respect for her for genuinely bringing Lori and Lola back together. Too bad it meant that her days were now numbered.

"Welp," Luna says as she gets off the bed with a tiny grunt of exertion, walking towards her guitar case. "Guess I better started practicing 'The Funeral March'. Nice knowing you, Luan."

 **A/N:** Howdy, ya'll?! By the way, that is not a hint about what state I'm from. I'll let you know when I start planting those about when I find out that enough people give a hoot. So…yeah, the thing is, I would've had this chapter out sooner if not for the following things:

1\. Contending with mind-numbing awful pain from irreversible pulpitis that kept me from eating or sleeping for over 36 hours, all while lurching myself over the bathroom sink to constantly swish cold water in my mouth to relieve myself of the agony for just a few minutes before I had to do it again. Not fun. -_-

2\. The fact that Luan Loud is one of my least favorite of the Loud siblings, right up there with Lucy, Lana, and Lynn.

Now, that's not to say that I hate Luan. In fact, I don't hate any of the Loud House characters. The problem is that if I don't feel an affinity for the character I'm writing, I don't have much confidence in how I portray them and since Luan just so happens to be a HUGE fan favorite of the show, I knew that not writing her "the right way" would set people off or at least disappoint them and in case you haven't realized, that's not what I aim to do with these stories.

But when I really buckled down and started to get out of my anxiety, I found that writing for Luan could be pretty…fun. I thought I wouldn't know how to write her beyond just making puns, something that keeps her from being a favorite of mine since besides "Funny Business" and "April Fools Rules", an episode that won't be on my favorites list any time soon, the show hasn't done much to expand her character past a pun or two and a gag. So, instead, I thought that giving her pranks a purpose beyond just getting a laugh or two would show off her potential and possibilities as an endearing character.

Or what do I know? Maybe my dental infection went up to my brain and I can't make sense of good writing or character development. Ain't that the _tooth_? ;)


	15. Chapter 15

For the first time in what seemed like forever, a Saturday morning brought about a comparative amount of tranquility and quiet in the neighborhood of the Loud residence. Neighbors, mailmen, and garbage men alike, who were familiar enough with the area to know what to expect around this time of the day, were awestruck at the lack of jubilant exuberance that would usually blanket every square inch of land within a five-mile radius. Little did they know that on this particular Saturday, everyone within the Loud House had all woken up with only somber reflection on their minds, no room for the planning out of horseplay whatsoever.

One week. It had been exactly one week since Lana had been snatched away from them. One week since the stormy clouds of that awful rainy afternoon hadn't dissipated but instead, loomed over their heads. Of course, general conversation, which never avoided any topics of a mirthful aura, was exchanged as the Loud children and their parents all dutifully ate their breakfast but once that was over, and they all went about their own way, none of the Loud children could find it within themselves to purposefully ignite their respective excitable spark, that little quirk that seemed to be imbued in their genetic code that inspired them to take the world, or at least their humble home, by storm by bouncing about like hyper rabbits in frantic, neurotic camaraderie.

To them, it would be a betrayal to their dear, comatose sister and a mockery of a cherished tradition by even entertaining the idea that they could all do so without Lana being with them.

So instead, most of them retreated to their rooms once breakfast was finished, save for Leni and Lori, who both left the house to go to the Royal Woods Mall. Leni still wasn't satisfied with any of the overalls she had come across in her ongoing quest to get Lana something for her hopeful recovery. Meanwhile, Lori needed to gather some supplies for her and Lola's scheme that they had in mind for Luan. Both Lola and Lori hoped that when it was all said and done, they're plan would go off without a hitch and be one that neither of them or Luan would ever forget.

As the minutes crawled slowly towards infinity, it didn't take long for a certain rock star wannabe to become utterly restless. Although Luna had gone up to her room to lounge around like the others, laying atop her bed as soon as she got in her room, she soon found the prospect rather unfulfilling. Not even the idea of strumming out aimless notes on her electric guitar, as she often did when she lacked the energy to engage in something of substance, appeased her. Trying to muster up some heart-to-heart with Luan also seemed pointless, as she was far too busy working out the kinks of her _"Lana's Library of Laughs"_ project to pay her any notice. Besides that, she felt that it wouldn't be far to drag out Luan from a place of stability to possibly bring her mood down any further by hashing it out about Lana, no matter how cathartic she figured it might be for them both.

Sighing, she threw herself off her bed, heading towards the kitchen with a new goal in mind: to help out her parents with the housework that they were probably doing right about now. It was rare for Luna to take up voluntary labor but lying about for hours all day like a sullen sack of sassafras wasn't her idea of a good time.

In the span of about thirty seconds, Luna found herself in the kitchen, walking in on her mother, kneeling on the floor and fiddling about in the cabinets underneath the sink. She clearly heard her arrival as Mrs. Loud popped out to look back and greet her daughter.

"Oh, hi, Luna. Need something?"

"Nah, not really," Luna replied almost lifelessly. "Just wanted to see if I could help you and Dad 'round the house, y'know?"

Rita smiled at the kind gesture, although not as brightly as she would've. It didn't take much effort for her to realize that something was clearly bothering Luna and she had a pretty good idea on what it was. Deciding not to open that can of worms, Rita directed her daughter's benevolent intentions to good use instead.

"Certainly, Luna. You can start by helping me out with that pile of dishes in the sink right here," Rita requested as she pointed to the high stack of cutlery and plates that seemed close to toppling over, the byproduct of feeding a family of twelve.

Luna didn't mind one bit. Loads of dishes meant more work and more work meant that she'd be occupied doing s _omething_.

"Sure thing, Mom," she obeyed with no hesitation.

Before she could turn on the faucet and get started, Rita reached out her hand to tug lightly on her shirt to get her attention.

"Oh, but before you get started, make sure not to use too much water, okay? There's something clogging the sink and I've been trying to get it unplugged for the last half an hour but to no avail."

Nodding, Luna gingerly turned the faucet on, letting a steady but small stream of water flow out, grabbed a residue tattered dinner plate, and got to work posthaste.

* * *

About ten minutes passed before Luna realized that something was…off. She had come downstairs to help _both_ her parents but as far as she could tell, her father was nowhere to be found. Sure, she had been in the kitchen, hunched over the sink and scrubbing away at dirty dishes for all this time but usually, her mother and father worked as a team when it came to housework, tackling multiple chores in one room at a time.

Just where could he possibly be?

"Hey, Mom?" Luna called out as she placed a handful of forks on the drying rack. She looked down to find her mother was still working on unclogging the pipes.

"Yes, honey?" replied her mother without leaving her post.

"Where's Dad?"

"Oh, just taking up a few business calls in our room right now," Rita explained before she got up off the floor, wincing and groaning a bit from all the kneeling on she had been doing on cold, marble floor. She pulled up a seat next to the kitchen table and sat down, needing to take a breather after working in vain to unclog the sink.

Luna looked over her shoulder to find her mother in distress, prompting her to stop what she was doing and dash towards the freezer to grab two bags of frozen peas. She was at her mother's side in an instant to apply the makeshift ice packs to her worn-out appendages.

"Here," Luna said as she applied the cold bags to her knees, an act of kindness that Rita was extremely grateful for.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Rita sighed contently as instant relief washed over her sore legs.

Luna took in the sight of her appeased mother and smiled, although she would have to tell her the bad news about the dish washing now.

"So, yeah, Mom," Luna began somewhat timidly, "hate to be the bearer of bad news but that monument of dirty dishes barely got taken down a notch. I couldn't really do much with how little water I could use. The sink's about half full of water, too. Sorry."

Rita looked up at her downtrodden daughter and reached out to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. There was no way that she'd ever be disappointed in her children going out of their way to lend a helping hand. Besides, Luna didn't exactly have the best circumstances to contend with.

"Oh, that's okay, Luna. You helped out plenty. Thank you."

Luna's spirits were only partially lifted from ground zero as she recalled her mother's issues with dealing with the clogged pipes and the pain that trying to unclog them had caused her.

"But what are you gonna do about the sink? Last time I checked, Dad wasn't the best with tools, either."

Rita had held out hope that perhaps her husband could assist her but she had to concede with Luna having a point. When it came to minimally invasive patch-up jobs, painting, or cleaning, Lynn Sr. was one in a million but anything that needed a wrench was out of his league.

Sighing in defeat, Rita reached into her pocket to pull out her phone.

"Guess I'll have to call a plumber and get him to fix it," Rita stated with a huff, pressing down on the power button to switch her mobile device on.

Managing the house's finances meant having to monitor expenses very carefully and meticulously. In doing so, Rita and Lynn Sr. would cut corners any chance they could get, without sacrificing the integrity of their needs.

Plumbing was one thing that they never had to bother with paying for once Lana came into her own. Rita was hard pressed to find anything that she _couldn't_ repair or restore. For Rita, the lack of an immediate rescue from her dilemma was a painful reminder of the fact that an instrumental piece of the Loud symphony had been disposed of a week ago, a bundle of joy that she cherished just as much as the other ten.

Luna noted the downcast look on her mother's face, thinking that she was rather cross about having to pay a hefty sum to fix a clogged pipe. She raced to find an inexpensive solution and beamed the second one came to mind.

"Don't worry, Mom," Luna assured exuberantly. "I know what we can do! I'll just get Lana to-"

She instantly froze the minute her words, her horribly offensive and brainless words, slipped out. She hadn't meant to say that so haphazardly, hadn't meant to open up fresh wounds by inadvertently bringing up Lana as if she were okay and right here at home with them.

Tears cascaded from her eyes swiftly when she caught her mother looking on at her with emotions she couldn't quite discern but if she could guess, she figured that she was furious, incessant that her daughter would torment her so maliciously, whether intent was present or not.

"Honey…" Rita started to say but stopped when Luna made a beeline for it, clearly wanting to be anywhere but next to her mother.

She didn't get far because despite her pain, Rita sprung up from her seat and grabbed a hold of her daughter from behind, nearly knocking them both down onto the ground in the process. Rita noted that Luna was shaking fervently, no doubt fearing for herself from whatever castigation she assumed that her mother had in store for her.

"Luna," Rita began but was once again cut off, this time from Luna's wailing.

"I-I'm s-s-s-so…sahaha-reeeee!" Luna howled as more tears splattered onto the kitchen floor. She didn't resist when Rita turned her around until she was facing her and she didn't object when her mother her closer, burying her face in her bosom.

If anything, she was relieved that her mother didn't despise her for being so careless.

"Shhhhhhhh," Rita consoled softly and rubbed one hand across Luna's back. "It's okay, Luna. I promise. Everything will work out in the end. I miss her, too. I miss her so much."

Mother and daughter basked in their comforting hug for a good five minutes, Rita whispering comforting words into her daughter's ears, even long after Luna had stopped weeping. Eventually, Luna broke away and rubbed at her puffy, red eyes. She leaned up and pecked her mother on the forehead.

"Thanks, Mom," Luna sniffled. "I really needed that."

Rita swallowed down the urge to cry herself at her daughter's numinous words, an effort she put forth for the sake of maintaining any semblance of emotional stability that her children would need in these trying times.

Before she could respond, she looked past Luna and noticed her husband heading in their direction but stopped shortly before Luna could notice him, too. He pantomimed that he wanted to step outside with her, probably to speak with her. He also conveyed a plea of secrecy as he did, meaning that he wanted his conversation to be for their ears only.

"Luna, listen, why don't you head upstairs to rest for a bit, okay?" Rita suggested warmly.

At first, Luna hated the idea of going back to her room but after letting out a much needed fit of crying, she thought that at the very least, she could practice her guitar without getting bored or sidetracked.

"'Kay, Mom," said Luna and walked off to go back to her room. She spotted her father and waved hello to him. Lynn Sr. reciprocated the silent greeting. He waited for Luna to disappear around the corner once she stepped up to the top stair before walking over to his wife in the kitchen.

Rita immediately tensed up once she saw the slightly distraught look on his face. Had he gotten in trouble at work? Or perhaps something else was bothering him. The same thing that was bothering Luna…

Sure enough, she got her answer after they both made their way to their backyard and stood by their little vegetable garden near the kitchen window.

"Rita, I was speaking to a few of my co-workers about a business trip we're having in about a month and in the middle of it, I got a call from Dr. Sampson. He finished with his tests and well…"

Lynn Sr. trailed off sadly and looked aside at the ground, doing is best not to look in his wife's eyes as he delivered the last bit of his news.

"It's not looking good for Lana," he confessed through gritted teeth.

Rita's blood ran cold through her body and it felt like an eternity had come and gone in a the few seconds of silence that ensued. It was the stuff of nightmares. She didn't even know what the bad news could pertain to but it didn't matter to her in the slightest. Things with her poor Lana had taken a turn for the worst and there was nothing stopping that.

Immediately, Rita grabbed Lynn Sr. by the shoulders and shook him about until he looked up at her.

"What do you mean? What did he say?" she asked frantically while doing her best not to shout and scream hysterically at the top of her lungs.

Lynn Sr. placed steadying hands on his wife's shaking limbs to stop her and spoke as calmly as he could despite the horrible details he had to unfold to her.

"Well, remember when we got his initial diagnosis and it looked like they couldn't detect any serious traumatic brain injury?"

Rita nodded to confirm that she understood.

"After the seizure, he ran some more tests to figure out what was wrong and after a few days, they finally found out what the problem is."

Lynn Sr. swallowed the lump at began to form in his throat. He remembered hearing the terrible news for the first time and unabashedly broke down into tears while Lana's doctor was still on the line. He wasn't talked down to for doing so and was offered a sympathetic ear while he did so. But now, he'd have to cast those same dispersions of sorrow onto his loving wife.

Taking a shaky breath, Lynn Sr. let the gruesome revelation take root.

"Her brainstem is damaged," Lynn Sr. finally disclosed. "What happened to her brain isn't something that she'll recover from smoothly and that's if it happens. With that kind of injury, we can forget about a few weeks. As far as we or anyone else knows, it could take months, even years."

He winced at the aghast, thunderstruck look on Rita's face but soldiered on regardless.

"And…and that's not the worst of it. Since it's her brainstem, we can't just go paying for surgery. The risks of fiddling about with that part of her brain are way too high to pay for an expensive procedure that will, at best, leave her right where she was before they started. We just have to leave well enough alone and pray that everything will turn out fine. At this point, it's completely out of our hands. The most we can do is pay for the doctors to keep her stabilized and most importantly, act as if nothing is too amiss in front of the children."

Rita broke out of her stupor and flinched. It was bad enough to have to deal with the fact that their daughter was knocking on death's door but to have to lie by omission to their children about the ordeal? It was a proposition that she never expected for her husband to say and if not for the anguish that battered down her soul, she would've snapped at him for even thinking of such a thing.

Despite the devastated looks she was sure her children would wear if they told them the truth, she thought it'd be worth it for at least everyone to be on the same page, rather than stuffing away a skeleton that was sure to pop up in the open sooner or later.

"I know, I know," her husband told her, as if he could read her thoughts. In reality, all he needed to do was look at the conflicted features on Rita's face to have an inkling on what she was thinking. "You don't have to tell me. It's disgusting and dishonest and sooner or later, they'll probably find out the truth anyways but the best we can hope for is that they ease into the reality that Lana might not be coming back home any time soon and again, that's if she lives through this. That means not dropping this bomb on them now and wait for the right time to let them know about all of this when it can no longer be helped. Understand?"

Rita opened her mouth to instantly reject the idea but stopped herself when she felt herself being more and more convinced at her husband's immoral but practical suggestion. She remembered flippantly but genuinely comforting Luna earlier to let them know that everything was going to be fine. But with the news that she just received, she couldn't fathom facing her again and watch as it dawned on her that her mother fed her sweet nothings just to save face.

Reluctantly, she agreed to his terms but was still concerned about one final thing.

"But…" Rita meekly spoke, "…but what do we tell them in the meantime?"

"Well, Dr. Sampson said that visiting hours are back in session for us, so we can go see her again in the hospital, provided no other complications pop up. Let's let them know about that so they can have something to look forward to for now," Lynn Sr. proposed.

Once it looked like his wife was accepting the idea, they both promised each other not to blow the façade of ease they'd put on in front of their children and wait for Lori and Leni to return home so they could tell their children about the news about them visiting Lana again.

But all the same, they both eagerly begged for a miracle, an act of a higher power, that would intervene on their behalf and fix what was broken.

 **A/N:** Well, this chapter kind of gums up the works. See, I had planned to wrap this story up in about six chapters, which would include an epilogue. Guess now I'll have to bump it up to seven, which will still include the epilogue.

To answer AU213's question, I'm purposefully keeping Lincoln in the background because in these types of medical drama stories in TLH fandom, Lincoln tends to either be the central character or a big supporting player and I wanted to subvert that. So yeah, he'll have more to say in the future but don't expect any of it to be that significant to the plot.

As far as the next chapter goes, expect it to be released about as soon as this one was from Chapter 14.


	16. Chapter 16

Around three hours after the Loud parents made their immoral but well-intended vow, Lori and Leni returned home. Lori, while satisfied with the utensils of vengeance that she gathered at the mall, was rather annoyed about the whole ordeal that occurred when Leni tried to put clothes on some half-naked mannequins that she walked by, thinking that they were sentient beings that were embarrassed to be put on display so shamefully. That, along with Leni's insistence on rummaging through multiple clothing outlets for Lana-sized overalls, made her intended one hour mall trip last nearly thrice as long. It would've lasted longer had Lori not suggested that Leni just sew Lana a pair for her from scratch.

Lori noted the silence as soon as she stepped through the front door, not paying Leni any mind as she hurried on upstairs to get to work on the homemade overalls. Despite the length of time that had passed since her departure, the graven atmosphere had yet to shift into a livelier fanfare. Lori supposed that it made sense. Although she didn't have ESP, she figured that everyone was down in the dumps because of Lana and she couldn't blame them one bit. She missed the dynamic dirt diver immensely and had it not been for her mall plans, she probably would've lolled about throughout the house like the others.

Rather than bemoan about it any further, or at least not until she could reach the comfort of her bed, Lori trudged up the stairs to get to her room but about halfway up, she spotted her parents standing side by side at the top, looking down at her with small smiles on their faces. Lori wasn't quite sure what it was about their synchronized stances but something felt rather off about them. Chalk it up to knowing her parents for so long but to her, they looked…practiced and stiff. At least a little bit, anyways. She couldn't really bother to mull over it since her parents had something more important in store for her anyways…

* * *

As instructed by her parents, Lori dropped off her bags in her room and headed downstairs to the living room. She expected to find her siblings there already, as she had been told that they were all to be present for some type of grand announcement. As Lori sat down at the far end of the couch, she thought about what they could possibly wish to discuss with all of them. Usually, "grand announcements" concerned a family trip of some kind but she couldn't imagine her parents planning any sort of big family outing when they were one family member short. She would imagine that they would find the idea to be in poor taste and one that they would all predictably be reluctant to accept in stride anyways.

Eventually, she found her only brother and sisters heading down the stairs, the looks on their faces being ones of inquisitiveness, a far cry from the ones that exuded their shared disheartened dispositions since waking up. Like always, it took them all a good minute or two to make room for themselves on the couch. A grateful Luan, in particular, found herself on the complete opposite side of the couch from Lori, with Lynn and Lincoln inadvertently creating a merciful barrier between her and Lola, who was occupied smack dab in the middle of all of them.

Rita and Lynn Sr. stepped in the living room, in front of all of them, after about five minutes of their children waiting for them to arrive. With their progeny assembled as cordially as possible, they looked at each other, gazing into each other's eyes in search for regret for the dirty deed they were about to commit. When they found no trace of it at all, they both began their coordinated plan of deceit.

"Alright, kiddos," Lynn Sr. began, putting forth his best effort to duplicate his usual brand of mirth. "You can rest easy now because none of you are in trouble…well, except for you, Lori and Lola. You're still grounded for one more day."

The aforementioned punished blondes got a few playful "ooh's" and snickers for their trouble. Both took the banter in stride, rolling their eyes at their taunting siblings. Little did any of them realize that this was a premeditated attempt from Lynn Sr. and Rita to inject levity into the atmosphere to offset any possible tension.

"Instead, the both of us have some good news for all of you," Rita enthusiastically stated.

Real emotion began to seep into their beings as they anticipated what they'd have to say next. They would both tug at their heartstrings for a little bit before bringing up their collective moods. This was to offset suspicion that they weren't being authentic enough by explicitly bringing Lana into the discussion without a shift in demeanor.

"We both realize that things haven't been...well, to be blunt, losing Lana hasn't been easy on any of us. But rest assured that Lana still has a fighting chance," Lynn Sr. solemnly said with a twinge of melancholy mixed with hope.

"In fact," Rita supplemented with ardor, "she has such a fighting chance, that the doctors of Royals Woods General have allowed us to come see her again! We can go as soon as today if you kids want!"

Instantly, as Rita and Lynn Sr. predicted, the youthful, exuberant cheers of a typical Loud House Saturday afternoon sounded off at the highest decibel possible as each and every Loud child leapt off the couch and ran about in the living room in chaotic delight at the news they were delivered. Although the repugnant aftertaste of their fabrication was a stain against their humanity that they felt couldn't be washed away with conscious effort any time soon, for now, husband and wife could at least relish in the joy that their tale had brought about. Normally, they would both have a short leash of tolerance when it came to their children bustling about so frantically but in this case, they felt that they deserved to have some reprieve from the melancholy that clung to their psyches ever since Lana had been unfairly snatched away from them.

Through the noise, they quickly told their children that whenever they were ready to go to the hospital, they needn't do anything more but inform them. With that, Rita and Lynn Sr. retreated up the stairs to their room, waiting for the kids to calm themselves. Little did they know that their falsehood was counteracted with a far cleverer one from a certain brown haired, bespectacled brainiac.

* * *

As soon as her parents disappeared from sight, Lisa Loud promptly descended from the lighting fixture on the kitchen ceiling, brushing off tiny specks of debris from her shirt that her staged romping had brought about. She couldn't pat herself on the back for deceiving her parents into thinking that she was swelled with the authentic euphoria that was still gripping her siblings. No, not while a bigger dilemma presented itself to her.

Despite the fact that she didn't think of her as someone of even above average intelligence, Lisa was surprised that given what Lynn had discovered about both her nanite plan and Lana's cerebral injuries, that she didn't catch on to the fact that her parents had lied to their faces.

Well, not exactly lie, Lisa amended to herself, but leave out a very vital piece of information regarding Lana. Yes, they didn't exactly lie when they told her that Lana had a fighting chance but their exaggerated delivery of their story implied that Lana's fighting chance was high enough to warrant jubilation.

It was obvious that they had been informed about the brainstem injury and instead of delivering the sullen but precise odds of their dear sister's chances, they fabricated a version that would pacify their downtrodden souls. Besides the contradictory information they had just been fed, it was clear to Lisa that she was being supplied with nothing but hogwash from the subtle visual cues: their pacing eyes, the slight nervous twitching of the fingers, the restless movement of their feet dragging slightly against the carpet. It didn't take long for her to figure out that they were in on a big plan to put the wool over their eyes.

But as Lisa stood in the kitchen, deep in thought about the immorality of her parents, the "bigger dilemma" from before reared its ugly head into the forefront and she nearly panicked as her thoughts began to race about.

Would it be okay to just let this go? To pretend that everything was going to be okay? Wouldn't that just put her on the same level as her parents? Did the fact that she not only knew about Lana's serious brain trauma beforehand but also of a plausible way to restore already establish her moral depravity? Was it worth it to sit back and let the revelation of their parent's deceit, followed by the true nature of Lana's misfortune, take place and have an irreparable, catastrophic rift tear into their familial bond?

Lisa gripped her head in anguish, gritting her teeth all the while. It was too much to think about. Too much to take in all at once. Beyond feeling the pressure to be stirred to action by her moral fiber, she couldn't bear to think about the consequences of a misstep that rash planning would bring about.

What was she to do?

She looked back into the living room to witness her siblings prance about gleefully. It was the sentimentality of the scene before her that made what she had to do crystal clear.

She had to tell them. Tell them everything.

She yearned for moments like this, where her family could not only act whole but _be_ whole. Between the dissension that would come between parents and children when the truth would eventually become unraveled and the discord that would spring forth from her family arguing over whether Lisa's plan was worth considering or not, a fear that had gripped for the better part of half the week, Lisa decided that it was best to contend with the latter and not the former.

Besides, once they figured out the truth, would anyone of them honestly turn her idea down? With their backs against the wall, could they run to any other alternative? Lisa couldn't see why they would but that didn't mean her apprehension was completely gone.

With a new plan in mind, Lisa raced forward into action, running out the kitchen into the living room, looking around for her target and the only person that would be able to initiate her plan without a hitch. In no time at all, she spotted Lori, who was hanging on the side of the stairwell and whooping and hollering with the best of them.

Pulling out her phone from her pocket, she texted Lori a message, laced with an urgent call to action from her end. It was a bold move on her part, texting Lori when she made it explicitly clear in the past that she only wanted to receive messages from her "boo-boo bear" but this was an emergency. She looked on as Lori stopped her wild gyrations to reach into her pocket and read the message that she got. She looked at the screen and looked around for Lisa until their eyes met. In the three seconds of staring between them, a mutual understanding was established and Lori gave her a thumbs up before springing into action.

Springing off the stairwell side, Lori ran up the stairs until she got into her room. She quickly went up to her bedroom dresser, pulled out the top drawer, and reached for her trusty "get the twerps in line" whistle that she used with aplomb whenever she was left in charge of the house while her parents were gone. She ran back down within the crazy sibling spectacle and instantly put an end to it with one three second blow of her whistle. Sans Lisa, who stood by Lori's side, all the Loud children were lined up single file in an instant.

"Alright, everyone, my room. No whining. Move it."

Despite her orders of no whining, she picked up a few low grumbles as her siblings slowly made their way to Lori's room, walking one behind the other up the stairs. Lori looked down at Lisa as they did so, wanting to make sure that this was as important as Lisa's text implied.

"And you're absolutely sure this can't wait?" Lori asked. "Not to put you down or anything but what can be more important than visiting Lana at the hospital right now?"

"Trust me, Lori," Lisa resounded, "I know you tend to utilize the word 'literally' for the most mundane circumstances but believe me, this is literally life changing."

* * *

It didn't take long for most of the Loud kids to all be assembled in Lori and Leni's room, sitting cross-legged on the floor and talking amongst themselves about what could possibly have gotten into Lori to warrant every one of them being summoned to her room. Only Lisa and Lori were presently absent.

However, even though everyone not named Lori and Lisa had a clue what was happening, they all understood the most important rule concerning these "Secret Sibling Summits" that Lori would often host; do NOT let Mom and Dad know.

"What'd you think this about?" asked Lincoln to Luna.

"Who knows, dude. Maybe she wants to make sure we don't act up once we get there," Luna offered with not much confidence.

"Unlikely. Remember, it was Lori and Lola who misbehaved at the hospital," Lucy dryly intercepted. "Not us."

"Still, she probably wants to throw her weight around after Mom and Dad put her on the spot," Luna countered.

"Well, that explains Lori but what about Li-"

Lincoln nearly finished before being interrupted by the door swinging open and Lori and Lisa emerging in tandem. The chattering came to a close once Lisa and Lori were standing before them.

"Alright, everyone, listen up," demanded the eldest Loud. "I don't know what Lisa wanted with all of us here but whatever it is, it's important so just sit there and listen. Save your questions until the end and no interrupting her. The sooner she finishes, the sooner we can all go see Lana. Got it?"

She got a somewhat hearty show of agreement when they all nodded nearly simultaneously.

"Alright, Lisa, you have the floor," said Lori and took her seat on the floor next to Leni. Luan, who just so happened to be sitting right behind Leni, flinched nervously at how close she was to one of her imminent tormentors.

"Thank you, Lori," smiled Lisa and cleared her throat, ready to start from the beginning.

' _No turning back now, Lisa. They must know everything. It's imperative that we're all on the same page here.'_

"As you all know, Lana's been indisposed for the better part of a week now. What you all know right now is that she's currently in a coma, unable to interact with the outside world and completely cut off from consciousness. You also know that while Lori and Lola went to see her about four days ago, she underwent a sporadic seizure that sent doctors scrambling about for the origin of the complication.

From what our mother and father seemed to imply and exude in their good news to us just a mere few minutes ago, it's easy to surmise that you all think that Lana's…relatively stable and will recover in due time with the daily speech therapy we were all enthusiastically asked to take a part in," Lisa started and was thankful that all of them seemed to be captive to her speech.

Most of them looked rather confused, save for Lynn, who appeared as if the realization of the situation was unraveling in her mind.

"But I'm afraid…that's simply not the case," Lisa grimly stated, looking down at the floor as she did so.

She looked back up to find that they were all looking on rather concerned, on the edge of their seats as the weight of Lisa's words seemed to suffocate them and make them antsy.

"Although they haven't exactly lied to us, mother and father did leave out a very vital piece of information. Lana's worse off than you think."

For Lynn, it all clicked into place. The CT scans. The nanites. Everything that she discovered was all a part of Lisa's plan to restore Lana's mind and because of the news that they'd be able to see her again, she had been led astray from what she knew.

For everyone else, dread and panic gripped their hearts more than their waning sense of trust in their parents. What could Lisa possibly mean by that? Worse off than they thought? Inconceivable! Unfair!

"Lana's brainstem, particularly the section called the reticular formation, sustained surface damage. That will make it extremely difficult for her to recover on her own, whether our voices carry over into her subconscious or not. It also makes the possibility of conventional surgery impossible. In other words, Lana will retain her grimly state for what will be quite a long time."

Even though they had been told not to interrupt with questions, which by proxy meant not to disrupt her with making noise, everyone present, sans Lynn and Lisa, couldn't help but gasp in horror at the news. This was far more tragic and far more serious than what their parents let on. Lola, in particular, began weeping softly and she soon found herself in a tight hug from Leni, who was also shedding tears of her own.

The pragmatic side of Lisa was content with her success. She knew telling them all of this would hurt them but all the same, it was better for them to know now than be led on from their parent's charade for a long time and then be disappointed when they really knew the score.

On the other hand, she still hated seeing the familiar sight of so many broken hearts, all from the ones she loved the most.

Wiping at her eyes for a bit herself, Lisa barreled on once she saw that her audience was still listening.

"The reason I know this is because I…well, appropriated some CT scans of Lana's brain a few days ago," Lisa explained with a shy grin. "I did so because I needed a visual display of her trauma so I could construct an answer to her problem."

As Lisa predicted, everyone, save for Lynn who pretty much knew everything already, perked up from their melancholy and looked back at Lisa. Some looked befuddled but hopeful while the more wary and pessimistic of the bunch, like Lucy and Lori, seemed interested but guarded against any premature hope.

"I'll give you an abridged version of what I've done. If you want to know the full story, ask me after I've explained. Anyways, for the past few months, I was working on creating a generic brand of nanites, tiny robotic assistants that can create an entire field of possibilities in technological advancements, namely in the medical field. Once Lana bit the dust, I just knew that if I could utilize them with an equipped program, to tend to the injury at the source, I could give Lana a fighting chance, a true fighting chance.

So, I finished up on doing so a few days ago and all that's left for me to do is inject them into the one of her internal carotid arteries via a syringe needle so that they can travel to her damaged reticular formation and coax it to respond. Should that be successful, she should regain consciousness in a matter of hours.

HOWEVER…"

She boomed that last word with emphasis when she felt that her siblings would start celebrating too soon. There was still a matter of telling them about the possible risks.

"My nanites are untested. I don't know if they'll work or wind up doing worse. Because nanotechnology is meant to counteract the dangers of highly invasive procedures, I can bet you that they'll do as they've been programmed without hindering Lana at all but it's still not a 100% guarantee."

With that, Lisa finished her story, dare not looking at her family. While she was happy that they at least got to know about a possible solution that was right under their noses, there came the fears that nearly swore her off her project in the first place, pounding into her ears like a heavy drum: family dissension. She just knew it had to be brewing up like a storm now. Any second, there'd be conflict.

Lisa waited for the objections and doubts to start flying about like lethal projectiles meant to sting and wound her. Her fists were tensed in tight balls, her small body was shaking and quivering about as if she were standing out in the unforgiving cold without a jacket. Her tightly shut eyes began to burn as a few stray drops began to leak out…

And then there was…warmth?

Lisa cracked her eyes open slowly to realize what had happened. She was in the middle of a big family hug, her sisters and only brother enveloping her with their bodies. She looked around and saw nothing but smiling faces, their smiles radiating like the Sun. Lisa was usually the one that was in the know but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out the reason behind this latest development.

"What are…what are you…" Lisa began to say before Lori cut her off.

"You did all of that, all of those wonderful, amazing things to help Lana. That is literally the coolest, sweetest thing I've ever heard."

"It's like something out of an Ace Saavy comic book," Lincoln added "But it's way cooler because it's my little genius of a sister that did it!"

"Way to go, little Einstein," Luna affectionately cooed.

"You spent so many na- _nights_ to save Lana's life," Luan joked. "Now it's time we put our misery to bed for good and get Lana back."

"Good thing I didn't need to consult the spirits of the underworld to give us a hand," Lucy stated appreciatively. "Their services cost an arm and a soul. I'm not joking on that last part by the way."

"Poo-poo!" Lily emphatically declared, though Lisa was sure they were words of encouragement.

"I may carry myself like a princess but in my book, you truly are a princess," Lola complimented sincerely.

"So, like, Lisa, these "ninniates" were made by you? Of course they'll work! Why wouldn't they?" Leni questioned.

"And Lisa," Lynn spoke out, "I know I already said this to you before but…I believe in you. And I can speak for everyone else when I say that we believe in you. Don't we?!"

The big family hug was broken up for all of them, minus, Lisa raise their fists up to the heavens and shout in unison with a hearty "Yay!".

Lisa couldn't believe it. She honestly couldn't believe that this had taken place. Not one objection. Not one query raised against her. They were all behind her as if she had found the solution with a complete guarantee. They were really willing to embrace the unknown and do it…together.

What could possibly impede such a beautiful moment?

"Hey, don't we get a say in this? called a masculine voice from right by the door.

The Loud kids' heads swiftly turned to the doorway, where the door was revealed to be opened and two familiar parental figures… _their_ parental figures, standing just a few feet away from them. Their faces were rather neutral, not giving away a sense of disapproval but not one of acceptance, either. For the first time since the children gathered in Lori and Leni's room, the atmosphere was stuffed to the brim with tension as parents and children looked at each other silently, not a word being spoken until Lily chimed in.

"Poo poo!"

"Yeeeeeeeeeeep," Lori chuckled nervously. "Looks like we're in poo poo alright."

 **A/N:** Welp, that was rather…unsatisfying. I may have to go back and edit this chapter a little bit but I honestly don't know a way for me to amend this. I dunno, guys, this might be the worst chapter I've written thus far and I know that's saying a lot. :/

To make up for it, I'll be approaching this story with a fresh mind once I start getting to work on my TLH Christmas one-shot but for now here's this steaming pile of meh. Enjoy, I guess.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** Hello, everyone. I know it's been a while since I've touched this story and well…I really don't make any apologies for it, quite frankly. I understand a few of you have really wanted me to update this story as soon as I could but really, I just couldn't find the motivation to carry on with this story for a while.

Add to the fact that I was questioning some of my writing, after seeing other authors tackle TLH family drama much, MUCH better than S&T and I was honestly thinking about not touching this story until late 2017 or early 2018, hopefully with the much-needed confidence and better planning to carry on.

But after doing some thinking about where I want to take this fic, I've got a feeling that what I'll be tackling next will be a lot more satisfying. Hopefully. This means that I won't be writing at the seat of my pants anymore, which also means that chapter updates will be slower than my "one chapter a week" rate I was nearly committed to before.

By the way, Chapter 16 has a slight edit in it that makes it and THIS chapter make a bit more sense and I still feel like an idiot for not catching what I was missing the first time I posted it.

Special thanks goes out to everyone who've stuck by this story despite it looking like I wasn't going to be continuing. I hope that by the end, no matter how this fic makes you feel right now, you won't be disappointed once it's finished.

Oh, and apparently, I recently discovered that this story is featured in the TLH Fanfic Recs section on TVTropes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to faint from both giddiness and bewilderment on how the heck something like this could happen to me.

* * *

"…the dangers of highly invasive procedures, I can bet you that they'll do as they've been programmed without hindering Lana at all but it's still not a 100% guarantee."

Lynn Sr. removed his ear from against the door, shaken up at what he was hearing from Lisa in Lori's room.

He and Rita went to look for their children, after they found that they weren't where they left them. After searching around for a few minutes, they heard the voices of their kids, namely Lisa, from the other side of Lori's room, talking amongst themselves. Normally, they didn't eavesdrop on them and would've let them be but when Lisa began to talk about their deception, their hearts froze over with a nervous, unsettling chill, imploring them to lean quietly against the door while she spoke to her siblings.

And then…that's when they heard everything about the nanites. Though Lynn Sr. humored the idea of giving Lisa's plan the greenlight, his fatherly instincts told them that this would only lead to trouble. Lisa, despite her brains, had a penchant for miscalculated disaster with her inventions and that was with her testing everything to prevent cataclysmic failure from occurring. It didn't happen all the time but the thought of everything going wrong led him to one sturdy, final decision on the matter: there was no way in hell he was going to let this happen.

"Are you hearing this, Rita?" Lynn Sr. asked in a whisper, looking towards his wife for support.

"Yes, and I don't like it one bit," Rita said firmly, her ear still pressed against the door.

"I'm glad we're on the same page," Lynn Sr. said. "We can't allow this to happen. I know we're in dire straits but this…brain surgery scheme is out of the question."

Rita curled her hand into a fist and looked down at the floor while she breathed unevenly through her nose, holding in the urge to break down the door and set her children straight at once. Sensing her aggression threatening to boil over, Lynn Sr. put a hand on her shoulder and pressed into it softly. The gesture worked well enough for him to wrap his arms around her in a hug and pull her a little bit away from the door.

" _Untested_ brain surgery at that," he continued, "You heard Lisa, it's not a reliable guarantee. If Lana's health gets worse because of it, they'll never live it down, especially poor Lisa."

He flinched when he felt Rita shaking in his grasp. He couldn't tell if it was because she was about to break down in tears or if she couldn't contain her temper anymore. Before he could do anything else, they heard their children cheering loudly. This seemed to snap Rita out of her trance as she stopped her trembling.

"We have to put a stop to it, right now," she told him sternly.

With a nod, Lynn Sr. let her go and made a move for the door. He grabbed the doorknob and jostled it slowly and quietly and was happy that he found the door to be unlocked. He looked back at his wife, whose face showed the resolve and determination to see their intervention through. With that, he opened the door and found his kids in a giant group hug, with Lisa in the middle. For a moment, he almost thought it would be a real shame that he'd have to break it all up and lay down the law.

 _Almost._

"Hey, don't we get a say in this?" he spoke out loudly, causing the kids to break up the hug and look towards the door with gazes of pure panic.

* * *

Even after minutes passed by since their parents walked in on them and Lori declared that they were in deep "poo-poo", the Loud children could still feel the palpable, tense air weighing down on them like a grand piano.

This was exactly the one thing that they did _not_ want to happen. These meetings were supposed to be away from their parents' ears and even though everyone, sans Lisa, who looked to be the most terrified out of all of them, had no idea why everything said was supposed to be kept a secret from Mom and Dad, they still felt dread at figuratively getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Before another agonizingly awkward second of silence could pass, Lincoln spoke up tentatively.

"Sooooooooo…heh, wh-what brings you two here?" he asked with a false grin.

Though it wasn't the type of response that Lynn Sr. and Rita wanted, they supposed that they would have to start this confrontation somewhere, especially since it seemed like their children knew that they wouldn't approve of their plan.

"We were just checking up on you kids before we took you to the hospital," Lynn Sr, told him plainly. "And what do we know? We've seemed to have stumbled upon a rather…interesting plan."

"Oh yes," Rita added without hiding her scorn. "Interesting…not to mention extremely short-sighted, unsafe, unethical, untested…need I go on or are you starting to get an idea of where we stand on this issue?"

With the clarity of their disdain out in the open, Lori started to feel the swell of indignation bubbling within her, overtaking her fear. This was the answer to their problems, one that Lisa worked hard on all day and night, and they had the nerve to call it foolish?

Taking a stand between her siblings and her parents, Lori folded her arms and stared up at them defiantly.

"And what exactly is wrong with Lisa's plan?" she questioned.

Rita nearly spluttered, furious that out of everyone, the oldest and most responsible didn't seem to realize what they were signing up for. Lynn Sr. stepped in for her as she tried to gather her wits.

"I'm sorry but did the words 'not a 100% guarantee' register to you at all? Because they certainly did for the two of us," Lynn Sr. said.

Before Lori could object further, Lynn Sr. put up a hand, silencing her from making another comment that was sure to only make matters worse.

"Performing unproven microscopic neurosurgery on your own sister; that's what everyone here was so excited about? From the looks of things, licensed, medically trained surgeons don't have a hope of fixing Lana's brain and you expect us to be on board with an army of tiny machines fiddling about in her head?"

With her composure retained, Rita looked past Lori to find Lisa staring at the wall and looking like she was going to cry. If anything, she was the one who needed to be set straight the most and whether she looked remorseful about it or not was irrelevant; a situation this dire had to be rectified.

"Oh, and since we're on the subject of telling us things, Lisa, when exactly _were_ you going to tell us about your plan? Did you think it was right to keep that a secret from us?"

"And," Lynn Sr. chimed, "before any of you call us hypocrites because we kept the real story behind Lana's condition a secret from you…yeah, you know what? Fine. Call us that all you want but at least the onus wasn't on us to show our hand first; it's not like _our_ secret held the life of our daughter in our hands, unlike this nanite plan."

By now, Lisa was a quivering mess, tears trailing down her face and tiny sobs hiccupping out of her throat. Luan, Lucy, and Leni took notice and defensively surrounded her in a hug while glaring at their parents.

Rita didn't melt at the kind gesture, wanting to press the issue and get answers. _Now_. It was bad enough that they'd celebrate the notion of doing something so reckless but if they were honestly going to do it behind their backs, she couldn't promise herself that she'd be diplomatic.

"Well, Lisa? Were you going to tell us about this or not?" Rita asked again, this time taking a step forward so she could look above Lori's head and get a better view of her.

"I…" Lisa started to say but clamped her mouth shut when another crying hiccup broke out.

Truthfully, she hadn't even considered telling her parents about the plan, at least not until she got it passed her siblings first. She was afraid that their parental instincts would come to life at the sound of an unguaranteed method of rescuing Lana and felt that containing any dissension from two warring sides of the issue, she'd confide in her siblings first and then use their hopeful unity as moral support for when she told it to her parents but even she didn't think that her siblings would all agree to it.

But when they all did, it was the happiest she felt since Lana's accident. There was finally light at the end of the dark tunnel that they had been submerged in since a week ago and things were finally beginning to look up…

…and then her parents aligned with her worst fears; forces that would not only prevent her nanites from performing a miracle but by doing so, conflict with those who supported Lisa. Her worst nightmares were coming true and this time, she knew that there wouldn't be a quick fix to this dilemma.

"…yes." she finished in a mousy voice, feeling next to no comfort from the sisterly embrace she was cocooned in.

Satisfied with her answer, Rita looked towards her other children, some of them wearing apprehensive, anxious faces while the others looked on them with derision. She came to expect this and didn't care in the slightest; her children would thank them later for doing this anyways, whether they chose to hate them now or not.

"So then," Rita barked, "this nanite nonsense? Not gonna happen. I understand that the lot of you want your sister to come back any chance you can get but this is an untested procedure we're talking about and it deals with her brain, something extremely delicate. What if your meddling just makes things worse? Did any of you think about that?"

Lori's short, haughty scoff caused everyone in the room to look at her.

"No. We weren't thinking about that. You know why? Because we were too busy believing in Lisa. You might want to try it sometime if you're gonna walk around and pretend to be loving parents."

Before Rita could snap at her, Lynn Sr. interjected calmly, "I see you want to be punished, then?"

Instead of getting her to shrink back and apologize, Lori merely shrugged condescendingly, silently daring them to do their worst.

"Fine. Your phone's getting downgraded to a cheaper, more basic model. No more unlimited texts or calls. Oh, and if you use up all your data, we won't be covering it for you anymore. You'll have to pay for it yourself or you won't have a phone at all. In addition, we'll be taking your phone every night at nine o'clock on the dot. No more texting 'Bobby Boo-Boo Bear' until the crack of dawn for you."

Again, without the slightest hesitation, Lori shrugged off the punishment indifferently.

"Fine by me," she growled, "but while we're on the subject of swapping things, where can I go to swap out my current set of parents for ones who don't look gift horses in the mouth and encourage their children instead of demonizing them?"

Rita snarled. "Listen here, you-"

Lynn Sr. quickly took hold of his wife before she could say anything else. Though the retort stung him, too, he knew that letting Lori get under their skin would solve nothing and undermine their control by getting bothered by petty insults. He coaxed Rita to turn around and head out the door. She did so with a huff and left without another word. Before following her, Lynn Sr. went over to Lily and lifted her up in his arms. Then, he headed towards the door, walking right passed Lori's defiant stance and paused at the doorway.

With his hand on the doorknob, he turned back to his children and told them, "We'll be back. Until we return, none of you are leaving this room."

The last thing he saw, before he closed the door, was Lori glaring icily at him.

* * *

 _15 minutes later…_

By now, Lisa's sobbing had ended but Leni still wouldn't release her hold on her. Meanwhile, the others, besides Lori, who still hadn't moved from her spot, were discussing what had just went down whilst they sat around each other in a huddle.

"This is the worst," Lola complained.

"You're tellin' me," Lynn agreed. "I can't believe they cut Lisa down like that. I'm with Lori; that was uncalled for."

"Well…" Luna started to say but tensed up when five pairs of curious eyes glanced at her at the countering tone of her objection.

"'Well' what?" Luan grilled with narrowed eyes. "You think Lisa deserved that?"

Luna spluttered and waved her arms defensively.

"No, no, no! Listen! I-I wasn't trying to say that they were right about how they made Lisa feel…"

Luna stopped herself again, knowing her next words would only get her contempt. All the same, she had mulled over her parent's words and understood things from their point of view. Sure, she didn't exactly agree with them but when she thought about how distressed and miserable they must feel about their daughter going through something like a coma, she could see why they'd want to make sure nothing worse would happen to her, especially if it came from good intentions.

After all, that was what the road to Hell was paved with.

"I mean…I just think that, maybe, we should look at things from their perspective instead of ours. They're just trying to look out for us and if they're acting differently than we'd like, remember, we've never had something as bad as a coma happen in the family before. You gotta see why they'd be so freaked out, y'know?"

Luna let out a breath in relief when she saw her audience actually consider her words instead of jumping at the chance to chew her out. Though, from the looks of things, Lynn and Lola still weren't too thoroughly convinced with her argument.

Suddenly, the door opened and everyone turned their attention to Lynn Sr. and Rita as they stood in front of the door shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Your mother and I had a few minutes to talk with each other and we've decided to address a few things that need to be said," Lynn Sr. began.

He took a pause to see if everyone was paying attention. When he saw that they were, he cleared his throat before continuing.

"First of all, visits to Lana will be limited in how we do them from now on. You won't get to talk to Lana by yourselves. We'll be in the room with you, watching every move you do, every word you say. This is until we feel as if we can trust you not to do anything rash while you're in there."

Their surprised, perturbed reactions weren't anything Lynn Sr. couldn't predict. He was just happy that even the most volatile of them, Lori, Lynn, and Lola from the look of things, didn't wildly object.

"Second of all," Rita supplemented, "and this is for Lori specifically, we understand that what you said to us was done out of anger and frustration at having your well-meaning but reckless opportunity taken away from you. Therefore, if you simply apologize to us, we'll let you off the hook and not go through with your punishment."

Turning her undivided attention to Lori, Rita did her best to forget her daughter's acidic, tactless words and smiled warmly.

"Now, Lori, I trust that you've had a bit of time to reflect on your poor choice of words and to that, you say?"

Lori threw her head back and barked out a short, mocking laugh.

"You can forget it. I'm not apologizing for anything."

Rita breathed deeply, trying to suppress the urge to counter with feisty comments of her own but knew that they wouldn't get her anywhere. Her husband told her as much out in the hallway earlier.

"Lori, please be reasonable. We're only trying to-"

"You're literally wasting your time," Lori snapped. "I already told you what my answer is. Deal with it or don't."

With a calming, steadying breath, Rita fought back her impulses and relented on lashing out.

"Very well. If that's what you want, then that's _exactly_ what you're going to get."

With that taken care of, Lynn Sr. took it from there with the address.

"Now then, onto the third thing; the Lana visit is cancelled for today. Instead, you're all going to go to your rooms and reflect deeply on what you were about to sign up for. Think long and hard about it and by the time you've finished, I expect new attitudes about this nanite business. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," the children said in tandem, except for Lori, Lynn, Lola, and Lisa, who could do nothing but stare blankly at the floor while Leni cuddled her. Lynn Sr. was still satisfied enough with the reception he got.

"Good. Fourth, these little secret meetings of yours? They're done for now. If we so much as catch a "siblings only, don't tell Mom or Dad" vibe going on between you, rest assured, you're all going to be grounded."

Lynn Sr. turned to Rita, silently giving her the go-ahead to say the final and most important thing of all. Rita nodded and did just that.

"Fifth and most importantly, we want to make sure that you understand that despite us sounding harsh and unfair, we're both doing this because we love you. It's our jobs as parents to protect you from making dangerous decisions. And what you were planning on doing…it would've been something that you could never take back if things went wrong."

With that, the parents stood off to the side, breaking up their blockade of the doorway.

"Now then, everyone to their rooms. Let's go," Lynn Sr. ordered.

One by one, the children dutifully shuffled out of the room silently, even Lori, though she still showed contempt for them with a scowl. Leni and Lisa were the last to make their way to the door as Leni put a comforting arm around her sister.

Before they could go any further Rita halted them, sticking her hand out at them.

"Except for you, Lisa. I need to have a word with you."

Leni, though reluctant to leave Lisa like this, knew that ultimately, she had no choice in the matter and gave Lisa a reassuring hug before she left the room along with the others. Had she been paying attention, she would've noticed that Lori was standing right next to the doorway, pressing her back against the wall as she listened in on what was being said by her father.

"And since it's come to my attention that conversations in our room can be…well, eavesdropped from the bathroom, I'll be guarding it to make sure that no one gets in and does just that. You'll have total privacy," Lynn Sr. assured his wife.

At those words, Lori smirked as an idea came to her in that moment. She knew _exactly_ how she was going to find out what her parents were saying. It'd be risky but hopefully, Lucy would be more than willing to comply with her. She didn't like the idea of poor Lisa getting read the Riot Act after everything she had done to try and restore the family and wanted to know everything that would be said to her.

' _Total privacy, huh? We'll see about that,'_ Lori thought as she hurried to her room before her parents could notice her.

Once she got there, she pulled out her phone and began texting her plan to Lucy: she'd have Lucy sneak into the vents, record the conversation that would be happening between Lisa and their mother with her phone, and finally, send the video to her.

Lori flopped onto her bed back first as she waited for the telltale sign of her response coming in through a buzz. When it happened, she hurriedly looked at her phone screen and smirked when she saw Lucy's reply, a thumbs-up emoji and "'K" next to it.

' _Perfect.'_

* * *

Lisa slowly walked into her parent's room as her mother led her in by her hand against the back of her head. She felt isolated, terrified, and vulnerable, three things she wasn't accustomed to feeling at all. She sorely wished for Leni's soothing, motherly hugs right about now, knowing that she was far from good graces with her mother right now. She had observed that between her mother and father, her mother was by far the most cantankerous and she feared what words of contempt she had in store for her.

Rita pointed at the bed and Lisa nodded in understanding, sitting on the edge of it in accordance with her mother's wishes. She took a quick glance up at her mother and shrunk back when she found no trace of mercy on her face at all.

Tears, which she felt were all but drained out of her system, despite her knowing that that was a scientific impossibility, bean to prick at her eyes as the tiny frown on Rita's face widened.

"I'm not going to mince words, Lisa, you're in a lot of trouble right now. I suppose I shouldn't have to explain why, correct?"

Lisa nodded and tugged nervously at the hem of her sweater.

"You've crossed the line in more ways than one and in a big, big way. What have your father and I told you about experimenting on your siblings?"

Despite everything, Lisa couldn't help but feel indignant at the simplification of her plan. An experiment implied simply trying to satisfy a scientific curiosity; this was much more than that and Lisa felt that she should know that.

"It wasn't an…experiment, per se," Lisa corrected meekly.

"I don't care _what_ you want to call it. The bottom line is that what you were planning to do-"

"I was j-just trying to be of assistance," Lisa blurted out defensively.

Rita folded her arms and took a step forward.

"And what good would your assisting do if it backfired on you? On _us_? Did you ever think of that?"

Lisa found the question insulting considering how much she thought about the negative consequences of failure, lost sleep over it as a matter of fact. Despite this, she still felt backed into a corner and it was at this point where she internally debated on whether she deserved better. Whether it was her mother's cutting words or her own self-doubt coming back to lambaste her for making her bold but brash choice, she didn't feel like she had a leg to stand on.

"Well? Did you?" Rita asked again sharply when she didn't get an immediate response.

Lisa opened her mouth to tell her "Yes" but merely nodded sheepishly.

"Fine," Rita said. "I'll give you credit for at least understanding what kind of risks your ill-advised attempt at surgery presented but that doesn't mean you're off the hook. Like I said, you crossed the line in more ways than one. Not only were you planning on performing untested brain surgery on your own sister but the means of how you got this far were extremely, and I mean extremely, reckless, selfish, and above all else, _illegal_. I guess you got those CT scans from the hospital by hacking into the computer systems, right? You couldn't have gotten them anywhere else."

Lisa felt her stomach tie in knots. She had completely overlooked that small, tiny, insignificant detail of breaching into Royal Woods General's computer system and now, despite remembering not fully revealing how she got Lana's CT scans to her siblings, her mother had already pieced together how she did so.

"Lisa," Rita urged in a measured tone, "be honest with me. Did you or did you-"

"Yes," Lisa sighed defeatedly, not finding the use in telling it to her with a diluted, synonymous reply that would've gotten the message across but not as plainly as the cold, hard truth.

Rita shot Lisa a glower and placed her fists at her hips.

"Lisa, what on Earth were you thinking? What if something went wrong? What if your hacking caused dozens, perhaps _hundreds_ , of patient records to get corrupted or lost?"

At that, the girl recoiled as she began to softly sob into her hands. She hadn't even _thought_ about that when she did her hacking. She usually never overlooked the positives and the negatives to a venture before doing it, wanting a full scope of the consequences of her actions.

Her desperation for the necessary information for her nanites had clouded her judgment and as a result, put countless lives in jeopardy without her realizing it. Even though she knew hospitals also had paper records of patients, she knew that a corrupt database would only slow the staff down, a thought that sickened her to the core.

"I bet you were thinking that 'the ends justify the means', right?" Rita questioned, "That you were going to do something good for this family and that meant that the journey shouldn't mean anything in comparison to its end?"

Lisa was only half-listening at this point. As she weeped, she felt the jaws of her guilty conscience gnawing at her, questioning when she had turned into such an immoral monster.

But…but she wasn't a monster. She was just trying to help. She shouldn't be labeled as a monster for that. She shouldn't! It wasn't fair! She didn't mean t-

"But what if that journey caused patients in that hospital to be deprived of the information that their medical files would've provided for them had it not been for you? Would the means be justified then, Lisa?"

The dam burst on Lisa's restraint in that split second.

"I'M NOT A MONSTER!" Lisa cried out beggingly and fell back onto the bed, openly sobbing.

It was less of a response to her mother and more of an attempt to quell her conscience from eating her alive from the inside out. Even though she felt that she was in the wrong, she at least felt she didn't deserve the label of a "monster".

Rita's hard glare and judgmental stance melted away as she saw her daughter weeping. It sent a cold chill through her chest; she had never seen Lisa so completely demoralized and broken before and it nearly brought her to tears.

"Lisa, honey, look at me," Rita urged softly as she sat down on the bed right next to her.

Lisa did as she was told but still couldn't keep herself from sniveling.

"No one is saying that you're a monster."

She reached out a hand towards Lisa's face and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. She then nestled her fingers through her shaggy brown hair and scratched at her scalp, hoping to calm her down.

"Look, you made a mistake. A very big mistake but this doesn't mean that you're a horrible person. I'm just trying to show you that actions have consequences and that good intentions don't always make good results. You were trying to make a difference the best way you knew how and I commend you for trying to use your talents for a noble cause."

Rita sighed, truly hating that she'd have to bring down Lisa's mood again after seemingly uplifting it. Still, she knew it had to be done.

"But that doesn't mean that I condone the means of which your attempt was founded upon nor do I tolerate the attempt itself. Lisa, you may be a genius but you're still just a girl. You have your limits and it's not up to you to play God, especially when the life of your sister is hanging in the balance.

Your father and I are trying to do everything we can to protect this family, including Lana. We will do everything in the world to bring her back…everything _except_ anything that has the slightest risk of any of you to lose yourselves in the process. If, and this is a very strong if, Lana were to…were to…"

Rita stopped herself before she could finish her sentence, hating the thought of associating death with any of her children.

"If she were to…pass on," Rita finished, finding her alternative choice of words better, "we'd rather it happen because her fate was sealed and her future was out of our hands, not because well-intended but misguided intentions, from her own loved ones, sped up the process. You wouldn't be able to live with yourself. Even if everyone around you forgave you, you'd never be able to forgive yourself and I'll fight tooth and nail to make sure that never happens."

Rita took a pause, getting a good look at Lisa's sad little eyes behind her glasses. They weren't full to the brim with tears anymore, having ceased with the waterworks by now but Rita knew that they would be overflooding at what she'd have to say next and the thought of her painful words, got her to choke up before she could say them

"That's why as of now," Rita stated, "we'll be confiscating your science equipment. Everything's gotta go. Your Bunsen burners, charts, chemicals, lab coats, machines; everything. I don't want you to so much as _look_ at a science text book anymore. You'll get everything back as soon as we feel that we can trust you. Until then, this is way things are going to be from now on. We're not doing this because we hate you, Lisa. We're doing this because we want to protect you…"

She trailed off again, holding back her tears as she finished her sentence in a harsh whisper.

"And protect Lana."

With that, Rita got up off the bed, leaving Lisa behind as she walked out the room.

Meanwhile, up in the vents, Lucy pressed the record button on her phone camera, ending the video footage that she just captured. As she crawled back to her room, she heard Lisa's mournful wailing echoing through her ears, stirring her to make haste so she could get back to Lori as soon as she could.

* * *

" _And protect Lana."_

Lori nearly tossed her phone out the window in a fit of rage after seeing the video to its end, absolutely livid with how Lisa had been treated by her own mother. Having listened to the video through her earbuds, Leni, who was lazily flipping through old fashion catalogs, hadn't heard anything.

Lori curled her fingers around her phone in a tight grip before slamming it onto the bed, something she never would've considered doing before but she had never been this completely pissed off before. Lisa had been thoroughly put through the ringer and besides comforting her for a few seconds, her mother didn't seem to care one bit about her well-being, not when she berated her for doing the most selfless thing imaginable and certainly not when she told her that everything she held near and dear to her would be taken away.

But beyond that, what really made Lori the most angry was when her mother implied that Lisa was a danger to Lana, that somehow, she presented a threat to her just because she didn't want to sit on her butt and do nothing while Lana wasted away.

Lori looked at her phone again and knew right there and then, "it" needed to be done. "It" came to her when her parents had left them momentarily to talk with each other. At first, Lori hated the idea. It revolved around her doing something dramatic and desperate enough for force her parents into agreeing with Lisa's nanite idea and even if she was mad at _them_ , she found that she couldn't do "it" to her _siblings_ , feeling as they had been through enough and didn't deserve more turmoil.

But after watching that footage, she knew that "it" had to be done. There was no option at this point.

Picking up her phone, she looked through her list of contacts, knowing that she had to make a few calls once Leni was out of earshot but for now, she had to wait and pretend to reconsider her stance on the nanites but all she could think anxiously about was "it" and what would happen because of "it".

She supposed her apprehension made sense, though.

After all, she _was_ going to run away from home.

* * *

 **A/N:** And there it is. Phew. Now I can finally have a clear conscience about keeping some of you chomping at the bit for the next chapter.

At least, I hope so.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** You know, with everything else I'm working on, I'm almost tempted to just write out the full story at once and then release the chapters on a steady, consistent pace. If not, looks like all you'll be getting is a chapter or two a month. Sorry about that.

Hope this was worth the wait.

* * *

Luna cast her roommate, Luan, yet another worrying glance as she sat in her beanbag, absentmindedly playing with the tip of her ponytail. She hadn't moved from that spot since they were sent to their room and from the looks of things, Luan was still probably pissed off at her for what she said.

The rocker groaned softly, turning over in her bunk until she was facing the wall. She didn't need to be reminded of how her words had put her on the spot, making her siblings look on at her with disapproving glares.

She could be thankful that despite everything, Lola had mercifully remained rooted in her seat and didn't opt to violently lash out at her.

But it wasn't fair! She was just doing her best to make her family come into understanding with each other. Why was that so wrong? Like she had told them all before, saying those mean things to Lisa was absolutely uncalled for but that didn't mean that their parents had just decided to get out of bed and act like a bunch of jerks out of nowhere. Clearly, Lana's coma was the reason behind it. All they wanted was to get their family through this dark time without anyone else having to suffer and to best quite honest…

Luna could not only see where they coming from but she agreed with their perspective, too. Lisa's explanation of her plan included a fair warning that her nanites were untested and thus, increased the chance for failure. But Luna couldn't associate the word "failure" with some, humdrum, run-of-the-mill experiment that meant some minor collateral damage to the house.

This was a matter of life or death. This wasn't like band practice, where one could make all the mistakes they wanted before they ironed out all the mistakes in the performance until show time. One mistake, just one simple mistake, meant that Lana would be no more.

Regardless of how angry her sisters and Lincoln probably were for her words, she couldn't sign off on those nanites messing about in Lana's head.

"Hey, Luna?"

Luna jolted up, not believing her ears. Without hesitation, she looked down and saw Luan looking right at her. Despite her downcast expression, it was a relief to Luna that from the looks of things, Luan was opening up to her, even with the disappointment and bitterness that she surely felt towards her.

"Yeah, Luan?" Luna replied meekly.

And then, in a move that Luna certainly wasn't prepared for, Luan got up from the beanbag chair and strode over to bunk bed, climbed up the ladder, and shifted about on the top bunk until she was lying right next her sister, looking up at the ceiling.

Then, without warning, Luan softly took a hold of one of Luna's hands, in one of her own, and interlocked their fingers. Luna let her do so without fighting back but still wondered where all of this was coming from.

"I thought about what you said earlier…before Mom and Dad came back and dressed us down."

Luna's eyes widened as her heart began beating faster than normal and fear took hold of her better senses. Luan was clearly her to trap her, to keep her in place while she talked down to her for thinking the way she did and saying the things she said.

But if it had to come down to down, Luna would let her know how sorry she was for making it seem like she was a heartless witch who didn't care what happened to her own sister.

"Look, Luan, I'm really sorry if I-"

"You were right."

Well… _that_ was certainly unexpected.

"What?" Luna asked disbelievingly, looking on as Luan kept staring at the ceiling.

"You were right," Luan repeated. "About everything."

"What'd you mean?" Luna asked, wanting to be completely sure that she had support on her stance and it wasn't just her hope painting a skewed picture of reality to comfort her.

"About Mom and Dad. I get why they'd act like they did. We've never had anything like this happen to us. The hardest thing I can remember us going through was Lynn going away for sports camp for the summer two years ago and even then, at least we knew she'd be coming back."

The hand grip tightened on Luan's end and Luan matched her strength to keep their bond even and sturdy.

"But this…this is nuts. Lana's in a coma. And whether we like it or not, the safest hands to handle tough spots are our parents. Lashing out at Lisa aside, I can't really say that they're wrong for cracking down on us and I don't think we can afford to not listen to them."

Luna couldn't believe it. Had she really gotten through to Luan, to the point where she was coming around to the only consideration that was the right one?

To be sure, Luna had to press the conversation into uncomfortable but necessary territory. As far as she was concerned, the only thing Luan agreed to was that she was understanding why their parents were acting so strictly. That didn't mean that she thought that Lisa's nanites were too dangerous to consider.

"So…does that mean that you think…" Luan began to say but her words caught in her throat, unable to move passed the lump that swelled in her larynx.

Evidently, Luan caught Luna's apprehension and turned her around until they locked eyes. Once they did, Luna, knowing that she was on the spot, found no choice but to let her inner thoughts vocalized.

"You think that we shouldn't got through with the nanite plan?" she finished and quickly shut her eyes, hoping to miss any signs of Luan's imminent disapproval etched on her face.

Immediately, she felt Luan withdraw her hand from hers. Luna felt as if her heart was pierced by an arrow as she thought that Luan had rejected her and was moving to get as far away from her as possible.

Before the first of what was sure to be many tears could form, Luna felt her body swell with warmth as she felt something wrap around her in a soft hug. Her eyes fluttered open and saw none other than Luan, grabbing onto her and staring at her with a gaze that showed no traces of malice.

And, if Luna wasn't seeing things, she could've sworn that in place of anger…was relief.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I think," Luan said. "I mean, I'm not saying that Lisa's dangerous or anything but she's never attempted anything like this before. One bad slip-up and it's curtains for Lana. I can't even imagine how Lisa would feel knowing that she had a part to play in that. I just don't think it's worth the risk."

Luna let out sigh of relief and beamed at her sister, expressing her gratitude that she wasn't alone in all this.

"That's a relief. And here I thought I was a one-man show about that. Nice to know I've got someone else taking this crazy tour with me."

Her smile faltered when she saw Luan not make one of her own. Resisting the urge to facepalm herself for her stupidity, Luna's grin melted away under the weight of the somber implications of their decision and realizing what was at play, it was no wonder that Luan didn't smile.

Just because Luna found solace in the fact that she didn't have to think the way she did without moral support, didn't mean that everything was alright.

Deciding to address the elephant in the room, Luna said, "I know it's hard but for now, we can't stop believin' that the Louds will take center stage as a whole group again. And besides, maybe Lisa'll find a safer way."

Luan shook her head. "I don't think that's going to happen."

Luna's face scrunched up in agony and astonishment at Luan's glum sentiments. Besides Leni, Luan was always the most chipper, peppy, optimistic of the Loud children. If she thought that Lisa was tapped out of any alternative solution, then that must've meant that Luna had clearly missed something.

"If Lisa thought about a safer alternative," Luan proposed, "chances are, she would've resorted to that first. I think it's safe to say that that was our last real shot. But still, any risky plan, that involves Lisa being responsible for everything, isn't one that I'm comfortable with. Not when there's so much on the line."

With that, Luan simply shimmied even closer into Luna's body, nestling her head against her chest and pressing her face into her shirt. Before Luna could question what Luan was doing, she felt her chest vibrating slightly and muffled weeping rang out.

It didn't much for Luna to know what was going on and she made her move, stroking her back with one hand cradling the back of her head with the other. Eventually, she, too, fell in a fit of despair and cried along with her little sister and it painfully clear as to why there didn't seem to be anything left to do but shed tears.

There was uncertainty to be had from what they both wanted. Those nanites were their last real hope, a faint light piercing through the shadow that hovered over their house since last Saturday afternoon.

And for now, it was a darkness that they would have to get used to until something else, something less dangerous, fell into their laps.

Until then, all they could do was weep.

* * *

"Lynn?"

Lucy looked on as Lynn glared angrily down at her phone, veins protruding in her neck and forehead and her face taking on a shade of furious red. This was the third time that she had replayed Lucy's recording of her mother and Lisa's private conversation, that Lori had insisted that she sneak into the vents and get for her. Once Lucy returned, Lynn wanted to know what she was doing since she had left their room. Lucy thought about lying at first, thinking that Lori didn't want their agreement to be known to anyone else.

But then, she remembered that Lori never mentioned not to tell anyone else and besides that, she felt bad about lying to her siblings, especially Lynn, whom despite her stark differences, shared the strongest bond with. So, without thinking, Lucy handed off her phone to Lynn and showed her the video of their mother lashing out at Lisa, while lacing her address with less stern correction, as if to cover her tracks for unfair treatment.

After seeing it for the first time, Lynn just glared down at the screen of the phone, ignoring Lucy's asking for her phone back. Instead of complying, Lynn just replayed the video again, looking on with emotions that Lucy was quick to discern: rage, indignation, hostility. Usually, the emotions of her family, which always hit their highs and lows throughout the day, were sources of inspirations for Lucy's poetry but now, all it did was make her anxious.

Like Lynn, Lucy was clearly displeased for what their mother had said to Lisa and if she had to make a guess, she was also in no way in one accord with their parents' rejection of the nanites. She had caught Lynn's glowering, vexed scowl as their parents tried to give them their point of view but from what Lucy saw, Lynn wasn't buying any of it and had it not been for Lori voicing her thoughts, Lynn was certain to make the first move.

And, as much as Lucy wanted nothing more than to have everything resolved as quickly as possible, Lucy knew that right now wasn't the time to do anything hasty and knowing Lynn…

Before Lucy could react, Lynn dropped Lucy's phone on the ground and made a move towards the door.

"Lynn, wait," Lucy called out, panic laced in her monotone voice.

To her relief, Lynn stopped in her tracks but Lucy knew that without immediate action, Lynn would push past her plea and storm out the room, clearly with the mission to give her parents a piece of her mind. With that in mind, Lucy grabbed firmly onto Lynn's arm, squeezing tightly and hoping that Lynn would knock her aside with her superior strength.

Still, she had to keep her in place until she was able to explain herse-

"Let me go, Lucy," Lynn growled as her hand gripped the doorknob tight enough for her knuckles to turn a pale, ghostly white color.

"No," Lucy replied defiantly, throwing caution to wind despite Lynn's clear warning that was likely to result in her getting thrown off.

"Lucy, I'm warning you, let me go or I'll-"

"Please don't do this."

Lynn suddenly spun around, breaking off Lucy's hold on her. Lucy nearly gasped at what she saw from Lynn; her teeth her grinding, her face was redder than ever, and her forehead vein now had a twin, which was pulsing rapidly.

But what really made Lucy's insides crawl was the look in Lynn's eyes. They were steeled and filled with intent that swayed on the side of downright _murderous_.

"Don't do what?!" Lynn whispered loudly. "Tell off Mom and Dad for what they're doing?! Lucy, this is insane! I don't know why they have their heads up their butts but all I know is, we're not getting our family back until we do something and if no one else is going to do it, I will!"

With her worse fears confirmed, Lucy had to resort to a retort was going to probably earn her a hard shove and a cold, angry glare at her direction but any opportunity to get Lynn's attention affixed to her was worth it.

"You'll only make things worse."

Lucy winced as Lynn reached for her but instead of pushing her down, Lynn grabbed onto Lucy's shoulders, her fingers gripping painfully into her muscles.

"So, what, you're saying that you _agree_ with our parents?! That we should just throw away our one chance to rescue our sister?!"

Despite the pain, Lucy stood her ground, shaking her head in response to Lynn's outlandish accusation.

"I'm not saying that at all, Lynn. Just sit down and listen to what I have to say."

"No, I'm not going to-"

"Lynn, enough!"

Lucy's voice, though carried in a loud whisper like Lynn's, was still harsh and loud enough for Lynn to break out of her malice-fueled trance.

She looked down at Lucy, seeing her goth sister look at the ground with her head hanging and her frown looking more sad than indifferent.

"Just…just let me explain myself," she begged.

Lucy watched as Lynn did as she wanted, sitting down on the floor and waiting for her little sister to join her. Though it wasn't as comfortable as either of their beds, Lucy couldn't complain. She wanted Lynn to wait for her and that's exactly what she did.

She took a seat next to Lynn, her legs crossed and her hands resting in her lap. With an un-Lucy sigh, Lucy began.

"I saw the same thing you did, Lynn. In fact, it was worse for me because I actually had to record it for Lori. I had to sit there, up in those vents, and restrain myself from jumping down there and putting a stop to it. But even with all of that, even I know that yelling in our parents' faces isn't going to solve anything. We just have to be patient."

Lucy caught Lynn trying to speak up to object, but she quickly put her hand up.

"Don't interrupt. I'm serious, Lynn."

With an elongated groan of frustration, Lynn folded her arms and complied. Lucy nearly giggled at Lynn's relent; it was rare seeing someone as headstrong as Lynn be led around in anything, whether it be competition or conversation.

"I agree with you, those nanites are our only hope right now. And what Mom said to Lisa…that wasn't fair at all. She didn't deserve it in the slightest. I've read about the dark of creatures, the vilest of monsters, the most deplorable, disgusting creatures ever spawned and our Lisa definitely doesn't deserve to be put in that category."

Lucy paused to make sure Lynn was listening and once she found that she was all ears, continued.

"But right now, we have to stay level-headed. You heard what Luna said, our parents are scared. They want to keep us all safe the best way they know how. But right now, as you and I both know, they're not thinking clearly. Their priorities and values are completely screwed-up and they're giving up Lana by rejecting Lisa's plan.

And with all of that said, we shouldn't lower ourselves to their level by getting all hysterical and flipping out just because we know we're right. It won't solve anything and like it or not, they have the last word. The more we resist them with anger and shouting, the harder they'll put their foot down and then, we won't be able to appeal to them at all.

We just have to hold out for just a little while longer. Once they see that they have no choice, that's when we'll make our move. That's when we'll ask them to reconsider and then, we can get Lana back."

"I…"

Lucy perked up and looked at Lynn again. She didn't expect her reply to be so fast but what threw her off the most was the tears in her eyes. Lynn didn't cry often and even though she shed her share of tears on the day of Lana's accident, the sight of a weeping Lynn was enough to stir Lucy to take action.

Scooting closer to Lynn under they were shoulder-to-shoulder, Lucy wrapped an arm around Lynn and pulled her closer until her head was resting against the crook of her clammy neck.

"I c-can't, Lucy. I-I can't _*hic*_ wait th-that _*sniff*_ long," Lynn objected with no fight in her.

Lucy stayed silent, not saying a word as Lynn's crying got a little louder. Lucy felt that she understood what Lynn was going through right now; she was accepting that they'd have to continue to hold out longer for Lana's sake. Though it would be difficult, ultimately, it would be necessary.

Lynn removed herself from Lucy's neck in favor of sliding down to rest her head in her lap, her whimpering and sniffling still as loud as ever.

"I... j-just _*sniff*_ c-cahahahaaaaaant!"

The dam broke and right there and then, tears fell from behind Lucy's long bangs. For the next several hours, goth and jock shared their grief together on the floor, finding comfort in each other's arms.

* * *

"Here you go, Hops."

Lifting off the top of Hops' habitat tank, Lola smiled as Hops leaped free from his container, croaking gleefully as he landed on the floor and hopped about. With that, she sat on Lana's bed, her legs dangling off the side as she looked on as Hops had a blast.

Out of both guilt and responsibility, Lola shouldered the burden of watching over Lana's pets, a prospect that would've grossed her out had anyone asked her to do it before her twin sister's misfortune. But now that she had gotten used to the slime and bugs, she had to admit, it wasn't so bad. Hops, in particular, was her favorite to look after. He was so independent and self-efficient, not needing Lola to do much for him at all while he tended to his own business.

Plus, he was…actually kinda cute. Lola once entertained the idea of kissing Hops on the head and seeing if he turned into a prince. He was certainly charming enough to be a prince in her book.

She jolted out of her thoughts when she felt something land on her lap and giggled once she realized who it was. She reached out her hand and gave Hops a little pet on the head, not minding how her glove got kinda sticky.

Besides, now that she had some company, she felt like it was the perfect time to vent about what her parents were doing. Although she knew full well that Hops couldn't actually understand, regardless, any confidant was a good confidant.

"You miss Lana, don't ya, Hops? I miss her a bunch, too," Lola said sadly.

Hops just croaked in reply, though Lola could tell that he was less chipper than before. Perhaps could understand her after all? Either way, Lola wasn't done yet.

"But you know what the worst part about all this is? I don't think Mom and Dad miss her…at least, not as much as they _should_."

Sighing, Lola just fell back on the bed, and giggled when she felt Hops' tiny feet patter against her body as he hopped on her until he was sitting on her chest, looking down at her with eyes that seemed inquisitive.

Taking that as a sign that Hops was interested, Lola carried on.

"See, Lisa had these really neat robots that are supposed to fix her brain and make her all better but…"

She broke away from her story to scowl and turned her head around in another direction, not wanting Hops to think that she was angry with him.

"Mom and Dad said we can't do it. Normally, I'd be causing a riot and throwing a tantrum until I got my way but even I know that won't solve anything. Not _this_ time."

Lola knew full well that with a pouty lip, crocodile tears, hysterics, and wailing to match the loudness of a foghorn, she could easily get her way. It didn't work all the time but she had enough confidence in her tantrums to know that she could rely on them at least 90% of the time.

But this wasn't something trivial like control of the TV remote or cutting her way in line for the bathroom. This was something much, much bigger. This was about Lana's life and how best to handle it. And what made Lola less confident about loudly objecting her parents was Lori. She had brazenly defied her parents in the most brash manner that she could remember anyone ever doing.

And yet they still didn't budge. Lori was a bridge to her younger siblings, an opportunity to appeal to their parents by using Lori's position of authority and responsibility to get their parents to see things their way. But if Lori couldn't get through to them, what chance did she have? Like it or not, she had to face the facts; she could yell and scream all she wanted but at the end of the day, she was just a little girl. Individually, she had less say in official family concerns than anyone in the house except for Lily (Lisa, despite being younger than her, was often relied on to make the most rational choice, given her brains and all).

She only had more stock on the totem pole than a baby. How on Earth was she supposed to change anything, do anything to tip the scales in Lana's favor?

In her mind, she couldn't and all that was left to do was try and keep her head up, despite how powerless she was. Just the thought of it made her scowl grow longer and her fists curl and tighten.

"What am I supposed to do?" Lola asked wearily.

Her question was greeted by Hops leaping off her chest and landing in front of her face. He moved in closer and began rubbing her cheek against her head, croaking in a rhythm that was reminiscent to that of a cat. The gesture lifted Lola's spirits up a bit as she leaned over and pecked Hops on the head, not minding the sliminess one bit.

As she expected, Hops didn't turn into a prince but as far as she was concerned, she didn't need a prince right now. She needed a friend and Hops was filling that role spectacularly.

* * *

With a heavy sigh, Lincoln tossed Issue #17 of "The Beaver Brigade" off to the side and sat up from his bed and swiveled his body around until he was looking at his bedroom dresser.

It had been a few hours since he and his siblings were sent off to their respective rooms by their parents, with the hopes that they would have time to think about the consequences of their outlook on Lisa's nanites and reconsider their optimism towards the idea of using them.

At first, Lincoln wanted nothing to do with that at all and used his plethora of comic books to distract himself from entertaining the idea of looking at the matter from his parents point of view. After all, if what Lisa was saying was true, and he had no reason to believe that she could anything but right, considering that she was a super genius, then the nanites were their only hope. What else could be done but let Lana lie in a hospital bed as a vegetable for the rest of her life?

But once he got through Issue #14 of "The Beaver Brigade", he could no longer keep that tense confrontation at bay any longer. Instead of running away from it, Lincoln recollected his parents' words. Immediately, what came to mind was a crying, sniveling Lisa, who had been subjugated to harsh, cutting words from her own mother.

Remembering her tears, her red-splotched cheeks, her quivering bottom lip, her whimpering…it made Lincoln furious and nearly reject the notion of seeing his parents as nothing but bullies who threw their authority around and made their flesh and blood feel horrible for just trying to restore their family.

But eventually, righteous fury gave way to contemplation. As far as Lincoln knew, this was the first time that their parents ever acted like this. Of course, this was the first time that one of their own had suffered so dramatically.

And then, almost like a light switch had been flipped on in his brain, Lincoln remembered the words of her older sister, Luna, who had her own piece to say about their parents' hectic, draconian response to their secret siblings meeting:

" _I mean…I just think that, maybe, we should look at things from their perspective instead of ours. They're just trying to look out for us and if they're acting differently than we'd like, remember, we've never had something as bad as a coma happen in the family before. You gotta see why they'd be so freaked out, y'know?"_

Maybe it was the fact that it came from Luna, the siblings that he always felt was his most trustworthy confidant during the most troubling of times, or maybe it was the wisdom of the words themselves but regardless, Lincoln couldn't say that they didn't hold weight. And once Lincoln began to do as Luna suggested, he could understand fully where they were coming from. It was a bitter pill to swallow but it wasn't as if their fear was unfounded.

What if things did go wrong? What if Lisa's nanites only made things worse? What if she injected them in the wrong area in Lana's neck?

And most importantly, what if Lana actually…actually died because of Lisa's well-meaning but careless intervention?

Once Lincoln began to ask himself those questions, it felt foolish of him to compare Lisa's undertaking to the fictional, consequence-free marvels of a comic book. Sure, characters bit the bullet all the time but unlike in real life, a writer could undo everything that happened with a reboot, thus erasing the ramifications of a person's actions.

But if Lisa made a mistake, that would be it. Lana would die and there'd be nothing anyone could do about it. The thought of his younger sister dying before she could truly experience the world, was enough to get Lincoln to change his tune in a heartbeat. He always felt responsible for his younger sisters and even though he knew that he didn't have much say when it came to the final decision of family matters, that didn't mean that he couldn't voice a dissenting opinion if he felt that he had do.

But thankfully, it seemed like at least Luna saw things that way, too. Even if she didn't outright say that she wasn't on board with that nanites, it was still comforting to know that she, of all people, could possibly have his back.

All things considered, however, that didn't mean that the acceptance of his newfound convictions would be easy. Once he realized what his stance meant, Lincoln knew that Lana would be comatose for just a little longer than they all thought she'd be. And with that in mind, that meant that the monster truck rally, that he had wanted to take Lana to once she recovered, would be nearly impossible to go to now. That was about a month away and from the looks of things, Lana would be out of it for way longer than a month.

And that made Lincoln's heart, in the midst of his rigid, unmoving stupor, ache and constrict in his chest. Those monster truck tickets weren't just a promise that he made to his bedridden sister, they were a sign that he had absolute faith that Lana would get better at a timely fashion.

But no nanites meant that that wouldn't be happening any longer. Sure, it wasn't as if Lisa couldn't find another way to help Lana but knowing Lisa, any other "quick fix" would either be impossible, even for her, or result in an even lower chance of things going right…

Which meant that Lana would be down for the count for God knew how long, effectively leaving her fate out of their hands.

With that in mind, Lincoln knew he had to fully commit to his rejection of Lisa's nanites and knew just how to do it…but he needed more time, more time to gather the strength and wherewithal to execute what he felt was the ultimate sign of commitment.

And so, he read a few more issued of "The Beaver Brigade" until he reached to Issue #17 and knew that he couldn't keep stalling any longer.

Once he threw that comic book away on the floor, Lincoln crawled over to his bedroom dresser and pulled open the top drawer. Then, he fished out the monster truck rally tickets that he had presented to Lana that day in the hospital.

He gave them a sorrowful look as he stacked one on top of the other and shifted them about in his hands until they were held tightly between the grip of his thumb and pointer finger in each hand.

"I'm sorry, Lana," Lincoln whispered.

Squeezing his eyes, Lincoln tore the tickets in half down the middle with one, swift motion. The second he heard the tiny ripping sound the paper made, he could no longer keep a lid on his emotions and he began to weep bitterly, hot tears searing down his cheeks despite his constricted eyelids keeping most of them in his eyes.

"I guess we won't be see being seeing those monster trucks after all."

* * *

"Is that the last of them?"

"Yep. That's everything."

Satisfied with her husband's reply, Rita took one last long look at all the moving boxes that were loaded up on the back seats of Vanzilla. Inside them was all of Lisa's science equipment. Everything that Rita promised to take away was in them. While they did this, Lisa stayed in her parent's room. Only Lisa's bed was left untouched in the room renovation. Now that everything was taken out, all that was left to do was for Lynn Sr. to haul all the goods in storage.

Although Rita did feel some regret for doing this, she knew that this was for the best and her husband, though somewhat reluctant to follow through, ultimately agreed to it once she convinced them that this was the right thing to do.

She almost chuckled at the irony; just a few hours ago, it was Lynn Sr. telling her that they needed to do everything necessary to keep the family from falling apart. Now, she was the one that was leading the charge with acts that she would've deemed unnecessarily cruel, had this tough spot not warranted this type of action.

Before she could head back into the house and start dinner, Lynn Sr. stopped her with a question.

"How's Lisa holding up?" he asked as he walked up to her and stopped just a few feet away.

Rita breathed heavily through her nose in frustration. Knowing her husband as well as she did, she had a feeling that this was a backhanded way of getting Rita to get her to realize how much they were hurting Lisa by doing this.

"She's…"

But her mind was made up. This had to happen. Turning around, she glared at Lynn Sr. with fierce determination.

"She'll be fine, Lynn," Rita insisted.

"So, she's _not_ fine now, yes?" Lynn Sr. responded in a subtly challenging tone.

But Rita was no fool, having caught onto the disdain.

"No," Rita replied with a tiny frown. "No, she's not. But we can't relent just because what we're doing hurts her, or our other children, now. Soon, they'll thank us. What's important is that we stay strong for our family's sake."

Her words were enough to seemingly win out the silent battle of wills as any tension in Lynn Sr.'s face melted away, leaving behind a reflection of a despondent soul that had given up on all hope.

"But…"

Rita inwardly groaned, having underestimated her husband's resolve.

"But what, Lynn?" Rita sharply demanded, not wanting to have to be at odds against her husband.

They needed unity, now more than ever. Their children relied on it.

"If…Lana doesn't-"

"No, Lynn. We can't think about that. Not now. Now, more than ever, we have to trust our system. Lana will pull through. Maybe not in the near future like we all want but who knows? Somewhere down the line, maybe someone will find a way to help us, help us in a way that isn't rash and irresponsible like Lisa's plan."

Lynn Sr. nodded, though Rita could tell that the gesture was somewhat empty. Basically, he agreed but he still had his objections.

"I just hope it comes around soon. It's either that, we risk doing more harm than good with conventional surgery, or we just have to deal with the fact that we have to live in a world without Lana."

Rita glared. That was a cheap shot and by the way that Lynn Sr. shrunk away, he knew it, too. Just because they didn't have an alternative, didn't mean that that they had to rush into action one that was just begging for disaster. Lynn Sr. seemed to realize this perfectly well when they both eavesdropped on their children just a few hours ago.

Was all that was needed to sway him were some tears from Lisa? Yes, she didn't like any of her children shedding tears. She wanted all of them to be happy. But, like the old saying went, an omelet required a few broken eggs in the process. Lisa would cry her eyes out today but be grateful tomorrow.

"I'll get started on dinner now," Rita huffed and spun around on her heels to march back in the house and slammed the door behind her as she left the house.

She didn't want to continue this silent sparring match with the one person that she needed to stay on her side.

She waited for the distinct sounds of Vanzilla's spluttering and coughing exhaust pipe to hit her ears, indicating that Lynn Sr. was following through with what she had requested of him. She then looked out through the living room window and saw, to her satisfaction, Lynn Sr. driving away.

With a grin, Rita headed towards the kitchen.

* * *

Lori really didn't need this right now. Her plan needed her to be in absolute solitude in order to pull off. But being surrounded by family at the dinner table wasn't going to do her any good.

Hours after they had been sent to their rooms, they were finally beckoned out of their prisons when their mother asked them to come down for dinner. Leni, who had been sullenly lying in her bed the whole time, shuffled out of bed and made a move to leave but stopped when she saw that Lori hadn't moved out of her bed. When Leni asked if she was coming downstairs, Lori made an excuse not to come, saying that her head hurt a bit and she just wanted some alone time.

Seemingly buying the excuse, Leni went along her way, leaving Lori behind. Once she felt that enough time had passed for her to safely make her move, Lori initiated her "running away from home" scheme.

First, she called up a classmate, Cynthia. Cynthia had an older sister, Macy, who had her own apartment room. She had been there a few times before and felt that that was the perfect place to hide away for as long as she needed. Plus, it was a reasonable distance away from her school, meaning that Lori could either take the bus or walk there if she woke up early enough (she'd be leaving her car keys behind since she obviously couldn't take Vanzilla with her).

For the next ten minutes, Lori and Cynthia talked over the phone but Lori did most of the talking as she explained that she needed to move in with Macy for a little while. When asked why, Lori said that she simply wanted a taste of independence for a change and promised that while she was there, she'd help Macy with the utilities and other costs, a promise that she intended to follow through with her job at "Gus' Game & Grub". Though Cynthia was somewhat deliberate, she was finally convinced to carry through with it and at Lori's request, would get an answer later once she talked to Macy.

With the most important step of her plan executed, Lori moved on towards the packing. She pulled all her clothes out of the closet and folded them into piles to stuff away in her briefcases and duffel bags. Next came her make-up, jewelry, and toiletries. The only thing that she refused to take with her (besides her car keys) was her phone. The last thing she needed was her family to try and reach out to her. She'd delete all her contacts and then enter them in a new phone (an easy enough task since she had all her contacts memorized by name and number), one with a different number.

She wanted her desperate move to warrant chaos and confusion. She absolutely needed it. Her parents weren't going to budge on their anti-nanite stance until she used emotional leverage to do what was right. As bad as a taste at it left in her mouth, Lori knew she didn't have a choice but to resort to that.

Besides, if she was going to have to deal with the Loud house without Lana, it wasn't a house worth living in anyway.

Suddenly, Lori's phone buzzed, indicating that she got a text from Cynthia. She pulled out her phone from her pocket and quickly turned her phone off, her nerves racing all the while.

In a text that made her heart both leap and sink all at once, Cynthia had texted, _"macy's in. she'll pick u up around midnite. sound good?"_

This was it. Lori knew that once she responded with a "yes", there would be no turning back. In her absence, tears would be shed, hearts would be broken, and spirits would die.

But hopefully, once her parents got a glimpse of it, they'd be backed into a corner and know what needed to be done; Lisa's nanites to restore Lana. It was that or they'd never see her again.

Steeling herself against her objecting conscience, Lori entered in her reply at breakneck speed and tossed her phone away.

The last thing she needed to do was write out her runaway letter in time for Macy's arrival at midnight.

* * *

At around 10:00, everyone had gone to their rooms to head off to sleep. It had taken Leni longer than Lori wanted but eventually, she slipped into her nightgown, pulled her sleeping mask over her eyes, and drifted off to sleep. With the only real obstacle in her path out of the way, Lori freely but quietly heaved the heaviest of her three bags, her big, blue rolling suitcase, out of the room and down the stairs, leaving it by the front door. Once that was done, she went into the kitchen and grabbed her some leftovers from the dinner her mother prepared earlier; roast beef, mashed potatoes, and asparagus.

With food in her belly, Lori had looked down at her phone and realized that it was close to 11:00. Deciding that she could get a short little nap in before she got picked up, Lori stealthily snuck back into her room and set up her phone alarm to go off at 11:45. With that done, she slid into bed and waited for sleep to overtake her.

But it never came. Her mind was racing about with a mixture of sadness, dread, fear, anticipation, and even regret. Even now, as it came down to the final home stretch, she couldn't help but feel conflicted over her decision. Things were moving faster than she thought, not expecting Macy to agree to her terms and getting her to do what was necessary by midnight.

She was going to be saying goodbye to her family for an unknown amount of time. For all she knew, she would be gone for months before her parents finally did the right thing.

Or perhaps, not even the thought of their own daughter running away would make them change their mind.

Lori growled lowly when she felt stinging tears gouge at her eyes. With a furious brush of her arm, she wiped them away. She couldn't be weak now, not when her family need her to stay strong. Deciding to simply wait it out until it was time to leave, Lori sat in bed, looking on at Leni's happy, peaceful sleeping face.

God, she was gonna miss her the most. Leni wasn't just the person that she knew the most out of all her siblings, she was her closest friend in the entire world. They supported each other through everything. Lori's wisdom and advice would steer Leni away from making foolish decisions and Leni's cheeriness would (usually) brighten up her day. They were the perfect match; sensibility and sentimentality.

And now a big part of her life was going to be away from her for God knew how long.

Before she could relish in her sorrow for much longer, Lori's phone buzzed again. She looked down at the screen and saw the text: _"macy's comin in ten mins. be ready"._

Sure enough, Lori noticed that the time read "11:50" PM.

' _Right on time,'_ Lori thought. _'Oh well, like Cynthia just said, it's time to get ready.'_

Moving out of her bed, Lori slowly walked to her bedroom door and opened it, wincing as the creaks and groans left no room for much stealth. Before she could grab her bags and leave, though, Lori walked over to her bed, slipped out her letter from underneath her pillow and left it on the bed. Then, she placed her phone, which was now devoid of any contacts, her texts, her battery, and her SIM card, and car keys on top of said letter.

With everything she needed done, there was only one thing left to do.

Heading over to her closest, Lori pulled it open, reached down, and slung a duffel bag over each shoulder and went to leave her room without anyone catching her at-

"Lori?"

Lori froze in place, cold chills racing up her spine.

Out of everything that could've gone wrong, this topped the list by a huge, HUGE margin.

"What're you…" Leni began to say before her yawn broke her sentence. "What're you doing up so late?"

As calmly as she could, Lori placed the bags back and turned to face Leni, who was looking at her with a face that demanded an explanation. Her gaze was unfocused and her mouth as fashioned in frown.

"Well, uh…"

Her failure to give her an immediate answer only served to make Leni squint in suspicion.

"I was just…"

The squint was followed by a pair of folded arms. Thankfully for Lori, by the time she did that, she came up with an excuse that was sure to pacify Leni's curiosity.

"Going for a…a walk! Yes! That's it!"

"Why were you carrying those bags?" Leni asked as he pointed to the bags at Lori's feet.

Lori cursed a string of expletives in her head, wondering where Leni had gained this insight from all of a sudden.

"Lori," Leni said more sternly, "what's going on? Where are you going?"

Leni couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right here. It was the weirdest sensation of déjà vu but all Lori's explanations did was remind her of what Lana had done before she managed to slip away outside in the rain. Ever since it happened, Leni had been riddled with guilt over what Lana pulled on her because in her mind, if not for her lack of awareness, Lana wouldn't have been able to get hurt.

And now, from the looks of things, Lori was trying to do the same thing with her.

No. She wouldn't let that happen twice, not on her watch.

"I-I told you, Leni," Lori said nervously, "I'm j-just going for a walk."

Leni glared. "Then what's with the bags, Lori? You better tell the truth before I tell Mom and Dad that you're up to no good."

At that moment, Lori sensed a chance to escape. Leni was mad but no one, except for Lola, could match her in anger, even if it was fake. It would hurt Leni's feelings but she couldn't afford to spare her, not when she was so close.

Marching over to Leni with her best faux indignant look, Lori barked back.

"Can't a girl get some exercise without being grilled from all sides?"

It worked better than she thought. Leni shrunk away, looking like she was about to cry.

Sighing, Lori sat on the side of Leni's bed and reached out her hand to cup the side of her face.

"Sorry, Leni, I'm just a little tired and irritable right now, that's all. I heard from Lynn that exercising early in the morning is really good for your so that's why I'm doing it now."

Leni nodded sheepishly before she pointed behind Lori.

"And the bags?"

"Just some gym clothes and water bottles," Lori said, having come up with a good excuse to compliment her exercise fib.

"Gym clothes?!" Leni said excitedly. "Wait, hold on, I can totes make you something that you're gonna really like! Just give me a second to-"

"No!"

The retort flew out louder than Lori wanted and in a vain attempt to not alert anyone else in the house, covered her mouth quickly. She looked across to Leni and nearly cried at Leni's hurt, panicked expression.

Lori took her hands off her mouth, wanting to assure Leni that she hadn't done anything wrong.

"I mean…no, Leni. Just…just go back to sleep, okay? I'll be fine."

"O-okay."

Doing as he big sister told her, Leni laid back down, resting her head on her pillow and giving Lori one last look before she motioned to put her sleeping mask back over her eyes. Before she could do so, Lori's hands grabbed her own.

"Leni?"

Leni looked up at Lori, who was slowly moving in closer to her for reasons she couldn't understand.

"Yea-"

Leni immediately stilled as Lori quickly leaned forward and planted her lips on her cheek. It was enough to make Leni gasp in surprise and once Lori withdrew, she absentmindedly brought her hand up to cover the spot that Lori had just kissed.

Looking to Lori for an explanation, she was taken aback when she just grinned at her.

"What…what was that for?"

The significance of Lori's action wasn't lost on Leni. They hadn't kissed each other on the cheek since they were children as Lori just fell out of the routine as she grew older. Leni eventually followed suit, not wanting to get on her sister's surly side for doing things that she apparently didn't find suitable anymore.

"I just wanted to show you how much I love you, Leni. That's all," Lori responded simply.

Leni still didn't understand where this unusual brand of tenderness came from but she had no reason to not believe it. She knew that she wasn't the brightest of bulbs but she'd have to be completely brain dead to think that Lori didn't love her.

If she wanted to express it with a kiss on the cheek, then so be it.

"I love you too, Lori," Leni beamed.

"Forever?" Lori asked. "No matter what?"

She needed some assurance if she was going to do this. She needed to know that Leni would always and forever love her. If she felt that there was a chance that sweet, lovable Leni would hate her, she would back out of this whole plan right now.

"Of course, forever, silly!" Leni giggled.

With that, Leni laid back down and this time, when she pulled her sleeping mask over her eyes, Lori didn't stop her.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Lori picked up her duffel bags and scurried out the room. She was tempted to say goodbye to her (under the veil of a simple farewell) but felt it unnecessary. She had her goodbyes in the letter, anyways. Everything that she felt she needed to say was there for her family to read for themselves.

As Lori descended the stairs, she could faintly see her family photos through the darkness, a painful reminder to what she'd be leaving behind. All the same, she was more regretful about leaving her siblings behind. Her parents, namely her mother, could kiss her ass. This was all their fault to begin with and if they wanted to be angry about what she was doing, they would have no one but themselves to blame.

Even though Lori knew that her siblings would probably be sad about her departure, she felt that it was for the greater good.

After all, like the old saying went, an omelet required a few broken eggs in the process.

* * *

 **A/N:** And there goes another chapter for the books. This is point where I'm gonna really start having a ball with this story and I hope that it's your kind of scene, too. Nothing's worse than a party of one, after all.


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